Plum Passion
by J R Mai
Summary: Stephanie Plum and her mentor Ranger have to pose as husband and wife in Hawaii to get close to a fugitive felon they've been after for three years. And she doesn't know which is scarier. Hunting a hitman in the island paradise, or sharing a bed with a man who is anything but relationship material. From the Author of Meredith's Fire and The Heat of Winter, available on Kindle.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Okay, here's the funny thing about luck. It's about as predictable as a pack of four-year-olds with a garden hose. Most people have a pretty even mixture of good luck and bad, and that balance can change in an instant whenever it damn well pleases. Personally, my luck has always been kind of lopsided. It's always either really good, or really _really_ bad. Not much of a middle ground. What does that say about my karma?

Anyway. That's basically how I ended up on an all expenses paid romantic dream vacation to Hawaii all by myself. It's also how, while I was strolling through the Honolulu airport all alone, I happened to spot the one person who could lead me to a fugitive felon I thought was beyond my reach in the eternities. And whose capture was worth more than I usually made in a year.

My name is Stephanie Plum. I work bond enforcement for Vincent Plum Bail Bonds in Trenton, New Jersey, and most days I have to convince myself that my job is worth doing. It's not easy being a bounty hunter. At least not for me. And there are a lot of times when tackling wife beaters and car thieves and dragging their sorry asses back to jail hardly seems worth the measly payouts I get for a job well done. Especially when I end up rolling in garbage. Which happens surprisingly often.

So when I got off the plane in Honolulu and spotted Tootie Ruguzzi just walking through the airport, I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the ground. Tootie was married to Simon Ruguzzi, better known as The Rug in the professional circles of New Jersey. And by professional circles, I mean he's a hitman for the Colichio crime family, with a little freelance work on the side. He's actually something of a local celebrity. He ran into a bit of trouble three years ago when he blew holes in seven rivals from a Hispanic gang that was trying to move in on Colichio territory. Big mistake on their part. And the unlucky thing for The Rug was that two other gang members witnessed the executions and survived long enough to see him arrested.

He must have found a sympathetic judge, because The Rug was released on a ridiculously high bail, put up by my cousin Vincent Plum. And when both The Rug and his wife Tootie vanished into thin air, Vinnie forfeited the money he'd paid in good faith to the courts guaranteeing that Ruguzzi would show up for his court date.

Needless to say Vinnie wasn't happy. He put his best man on the hunt to track down Ruguzzi and bring him back to jail. Ricardo Carlos Manoso goes by the street name Ranger, and is about as badass as they come. He's managing partner at Rangeman, a firm that handles mostly high end private security, but I suspect might on occasion dabble in government contracting and the liberation of small third world countries. I'd been helping Ranger look for the Ruguzzis. Unfortunately, the trail had gone so cold we had to wonder if Simon and Tootie had become matching car bumpers.

Obviously, that wasn't the case. At least not for Tootie. And if I was very lucky, not only would Simon be alive, he might be somewhere nearby.

After a moment of shock I hoped no one had noticed, I kept strolling through the terminal, careful not to draw attention to myself. Tootie wasn't looking for a tail. She wasn't darting her eyes around as if she was afraid of being followed. After three years in the wind she'd gotten comfortable enough to think she was safe this far from Trenton. She glanced my way when she pulled her last suitcase off the carousel and I gave her the obligatory polite smile most people put on when they made accidental eye contact with strangers. She didn't think anything of it. Just gathered her things and headed for the sliding glass doors.

I was trying to think of the best plan to follow her when I got outside and saw a shuttle pull up to the terminal. Tootie climbed on, the Honu Ku'ono Resort Hotel printed clearly on the side of the bus. Good deal. I made note of the address and hurried to pick up my rental car. A couple minutes and I'd be right behind her. Lady Luck was certainly my friend today. Actually, she'd been pretty good to me lately, first with the free plane tickets, and now with Tootie.

I'd actually inherited the tickets from this guy I'd been seeing. Turned out to be not such a nice guy. No real surprise to me. I take no responsibility at all for the romantic connection between us. My mother set us up, and he'd refused to take the hints when I said I wasn't interested. Not even when I told him I already had two men in my life, and they both carried very big guns.

My love life is complicated.

I would never have agreed to see him at all, but I got ambushed, and my mother guilted me into it. In the end, we all found out he was serial killer who'd latched onto me as a way to even an old score. Downside, he threatened to kill me if I didn't run away with him. Upside, when he was killed in an unrelated incident involving two other people who were trying to kill me, I got to keep the plane tickets. Win/win for me.

I'd offered the second ticket to Joe Morelli. Morelli is sort of my boyfriend. I say sort of because our relationship has never been what most people would call steady. I've known Morelli since I was a kid. He had dangerous, boyish good looks when we were young. His good looks are still dangerous in a rugged movie star kind of way, with black hair that curled around his ears and soft, liquid brown eyes that turned black when he was excited. We grew up together in a little blue collar section of Trenton called the Burg, where the Morelli boys had a well deserved reputation for bad behavior. Living fast and loose and usually dying early in barroom brawls or from liver necrosis. Back then, Joe was no exception. He'd talked just about every girl in our high school out of her panties at one point or another, and when I was sixteen he managed to be the first one to talk me out of mine, behind the dessert case at the Tasty Pastry bakery.

Morelli had grown up a lot since then. He'd straightened out his life and become a semi respectable property owner and Trenton plainclothes cop. He even got a dog. Go figure, right?

Sometimes we were pretty sure we were in love. We even talked about getting married on occasion. The problem is neither of us is really ready to commit, and every time we tried it eventually caused a chain reaction between his red hot Italian temper and my defiant Hungarian side that always culminated in inevitable combustion. Lots of shouting and arm waving involved, and more often than not a break up. I admit it's not the healthiest pattern, but it's what we've got.

A few months ago we decided in the heat of battle that it might not be a bad idea to explore other options. Not that either of us planned on taking those options. It was more a technicality than anything, like letting off the gas in a truck so it can coast downhill. Problem was I already had two men in my life, and the other one has always been something of an opportunist.

That would be Ranger. Ranger was my mentor when I first started out in bond enforcement. Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle do Trenton. And like Higgins and Doolittle, after a while our relationship evolved into something more than strictly student and mentor. But unlike My Fair Lady, this progress wasn't leading toward an altar. I didn't really know what was between me and Ranger. Whatever it was, it had a low melting point and shouldn't be handled around open flames.

The shuttle was just pulling away from the curb when I got to the immaculate beachfront resort. Most of the streets I'd passed on my way had been green and full of life, lined with coconut palms and bright flowers, the scenic expanse of the ocean visible between the buildings and across the public beaches. The front of the resort made me rethink my concept of beauty. Every perfectly landscaped inch of the entrance was green and vibrant, swaying in perfect serenity in the sultry island breeze.

A wall of windows led into the lobby from the grand circular driveway and covered port. I could see the porters and valets moving around, gathering luggage and helping guests. I chose to park on the street rather than bother the valets. No need to make things complicated, right?

The glass doors made a sound like a contented sigh when I stepped through to the lobby.

It was the most luxurious hotel I'd ever been in. Polished white marble, expensive furniture, a grand double staircase that joined together at one end of the lobby and wrapped itself around the second floor, a breathtaking crystal chandelier sparkling in the ambient light. I suddenly felt very underdressed in my jean shorts and stretchy pink t-shirt. Might as well have been wearing flip flops.

I'd only had a few seconds to take it all in before I was accosted by a trim man with short, light brown hair, a tasteful white and green Hawaiian shirt, and a pleasant but assessing smile. His name tag said Thomas. He looked doubtful. Could be because I didn't have any luggage with me.

"Checking in?"

"Not exactly. I was just looking for my friend, she—"

He cut me off before I had to chance to get into the clever lie I'd come up with. That was a shame, really. It's the only bounty hunter skill I truly excelled at. I'm only decent when it comes to tracking people down, and the whole cuffing and bringing them in thing has always kind of eluded me, but I'm a world class liar.

"I'm so sorry," he said, gesturing toward the door. "We're hosting a special retreat this month. The only guests we're allowing are those partaking in our Sanctuary for Marriage events."

"But if I could just talk to her—"

"We have a strictly enforced privacy policy," he interrupted with an apologetic smile. "If you and your husband aren't guests, there's not much I can do for you beyond allowing you to leave a message for her at the front desk."

I glanced around the lobby again, this time ignoring the opulence. There were security cameras covering all of the high traffic areas. No doubt the closed circuit feed was monitored by someone on sight. That would make it difficult to sneak in. Men in uniforms were posted near the entrances, too, along with a few out of uniform throughout the lobby that I might not have noticed if I hadn't moonlighted with Rangeman so often.

Not a bad set up. Not as good as Ranger's, but not bad.

No point trying to pull the fugitive apprehension agent card. It would probably get me tossed from the building in a not so gentle way. I had learned one important thing, though. If Tootie was inside, it meant she had a husband with her. And considering that she was still in hiding, I was betting it was The Rug.

I thanked Thomas and left, retracing my way back to my rental car.

As it turns out, it was probably another stroke of luck that Morelli wasn't with me. I couldn't see him letting me go after a dangerous, high level hitman like The Rug. Morelli wasn't thrilled with my being a bounty hunter. He'd prefer I go with a safer profession, like high-rise tightrope walker or shark wrestler. And his attitude would have been even worse given the other complication I was facing.

I do mostly lower bonds in Trenton. Assaults, drug possession, petty theft. I'll handle the occasional high risk bond, usually with Ranger's help, but if the skip leaves Jersey, the case automatically goes to my back burner. I'm not authorized to handle extradition. That would be territory best left to Vinnie and Ranger. Which means that even if I made the capture all on my own, I still had to call either Ranger or Vinnie to come and collect him. Not something I could see Morelli getting excited about. Especially if it was Ranger. Morelli thought Ranger was dangerous, and he was right on several different levels. There was a strong rivalry between them that was only kept in check by professional courteously, and the common goal they shared of keeping me safe. Without those basic levels of civility, I'm pretty sure things would get ugly real quick.

Okay, so there were my two options. I could call my cousin Vinnie. Ugh. Even thinking it made me grimace. Vinnie was a good bail bondsman, mostly because he understood the criminal mind from the inside and was a decent judge of human nature, but his measure as a human being was best equated to a whippet with a leg-humping fetish. He'd been decent enough to give me a job a few years ago when I was at a particularly low point. Actually, I'd sort of had to blackmail him into it, but still.

That left option number two. Infinitely better, but equally as troubling for a few very specific reasons. I swallowed my trepidation, pulled out my phone and called Ranger.

"Babe."

Babe had a lot of meanings the way Ranger said it. This time I could hear that I'd surprised him. He'd probably doubted that I would call him from Hawaii. I hadn't exactly told him that I'd invited Morelli, but I was sure he'd figured it out by process of elimination, and calling him for anything that wasn't important would have been awkward with Morelli standing next to me.

In fact, given the way things had gone between us before I left, it was a little awkward even without Morelli.

"Babe?" he said when I was quiet too long. "Is something up or are you just checking in? The hotel you're sitting in front of isn't the one you're supposed to have reservations for."

"How did you know where I was sitting?"

There was a pause and I knew his mouth was pulling up at the corners as though he was thinking about smiling. "Babe, you still have my GPS unit in your bag. They call it a Global Positioning System for a reason."

"You're tracking my bag?"

"You didn't know?"

Yeah. I guess I should have. Ranger was always tracking me in one way or another. Usually the GPS was on my car, but Ranger has always been one to understand the value of diversifying, and he had an almost pathological need to keep me on his radar screen. A normal person might find this creepy, but to be honest it's saved my life so many times that I've come to appreciate why he sees it as a necessity.

I could sense another smile through the silence. "So, did you want something from me? Because I'm limited in what I can help you with from here." And there was the flirting I'd come to expect from Ranger. The opening move in a verbal game of cat and mouse that he intended to play whether Morelli was standing next to me or not. I could already feel a familiar heat uncurling in my belly just at the sound of his voice, but I wasn't about to tell him that.

"Actually, I called because you'll never guess who I just saw walking through the airport." I told him about Tootie and the shuttle.

"And you're not authorized for extradition."

"Exactly."

"What about Morelli? How's he feel about me crashing your romantic vacation?"

I bit my lip and heard it when Ranger read the silence.

"Babe?"

"He couldn't get away from work. He sort of stayed behind."

Now it was Ranger's turn to be silent as he processed the implications. I knew this time he'd be wearing a full on smile. Probably somewhere between charming and big bad wolf. "So Morelli made you go to Oahu all by yourself and now you want me to come join you?"

"It's not like that. This is business."

"Of course it is. If any other woman had made this call, I would have assumed she was making up the sighting to get me on the island. But with you, it's not the least bit surprising you could take a vacation and stumble across the trail of a high bond FTA we assumed was dead. I suppose it's better to be lucky than good any day."

Great. That's flattering. I thought about protesting that I could be lucky _and_ good, but we both knew that would be a lie. I was three steps shy of incompetent most of the time, relying heavily on luck and blind tenacity. "So are you coming or what?"

"Babe, I'd have been on the next plane just hearing Morelli skipped out."

"There's more. Turns out the resort they're staying at is doing this special retreat thing. Married couples only."

"This just gets better and better."

"Could you be serious please?"

"Babe, if I get any more serious there could be consequences." He paused a moment and I heard the tapping of his keyboard. He was most likely at the computer in his den when I called, in the Zen apartment he kept on the seventh floor of the Rangeman building. I'd spent enough time in his apartment to know what a bastion of calm it was. Professionally furnished in soothing earth tones and expensively appointed details Ranger would never have chosen for himself, but suited him as if he had. When I first met him, the address on his driver's license was a vacant lot. Life had been good to Ranger.

"All the flights for tonight have left already, but I could be on a plane first thing in the morning. Go to your hotel tonight, then check out tomorrow and meet me at the airport. I'll take care of everything else."

"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

Again, the smile. "Maybe, but it'll be worth it."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

My hotel wasn't nearly as grand as the beachfront resort, but there was something comforting about the open, stocky shape that reminded me of my apartment building in Trenton. It was pale yellow and looked as though it had seen better days. Put me in a second floor room that overlooked the parking lot and you might as well call it home. Accept my apartment building wasn't walking distance from Waikiki beach.

I wrestled my luggage through the automatic sliding glass doors and into the lobby, got my room key and repeated the procedure with the elevator, wishing that I'd packed lighter. I could have lived nine days in nothing but a bikini. I was sure of it. I shoved the suitcases out into the hall when I reached the third floor. There was a courtyard in the middle of the building, with outdoor hallways made of concrete that had a full view of the murky, cloud blanketed sky. It might have been pleasant if the sun was shining and it wasn't so humid. I could just feel my hair getting frizzier by the second. I dragged my bags to 315, stuck the keycard in and pushed through the narrow wooden door.

The room didn't smell great. I was hoping it was just my imagination. The second I turned the lights on I knew it wasn't. The place was dingy and depressing, with a drab tan and mustard yellow bedspread that probably hadn't been washed since ever. The furniture was flimsy utilitarian plywood with fake wood laminate finish. Bedside tables held cheap lamps with shades that matched the cream and tan hibiscus themed curtains. Fantastic. Guess it was a good thing it was only for one night. Any more and I might just choose to sleep on the beach instead.

I wandered toward the bed to pull off the manky comforter and let out a scream. There were dead bugs in the bed. Dozens of them. They might have been cockroaches or beetles. I didn't have any intention of getting close enough to find out which. I hurried to the phone to call the front desk and found even more bodies dotting the tabletop. Eew!

I wasn't investigating any further. I shoved my bags back out into the hall and crossed myself in a reflex I'd inherited from my mother.

I took a quick stock of my situation. I didn't really want to cart my things all the way downstairs again. I looked back at the door to the bug room. Didn't want to leave them in the room either. The bugs were dead. Didn't want to find out how they died. A speck of rain hit my forehead, and then another. In no time, a thin mist was falling over everything. I sighed and hunched my shoulders, gathering my bags against my will.

It took a half hour to sort everything out, but after several heartfelt apologies I was in a new upgraded suite, this time on the second floor, and there wasn't a bug in sight. The linens were white and freshly pressed. Walls and drapes were serene arrays of blue. Modern bathroom fixtures and a big flat screen television. So much better. I pulled everything off the bed and remade it myself, just to be on the safe side, and found it to be just as immaculate as it looked. I shucked my clothes and climbed in.

It had taken hours to fall asleep, no matter how tired I was. It's never comfortable the first night sleeping in a strange bed. It made it worse that I kept thinking about dead bugs. Even after I'd fallen asleep, I'd tossed and turned most of the night.

Sun was streaming in bright through the windows when I woke the next morning. I looked at the clock on my bedside table. 11:15. Jeez. Not only had the day started without me, it'd left me in the dust. I checked my phone and found a text message from Ranger with his flight information and arrival time. I was supposed to pick him up at two. I got warm and tingly in a few very specific places. A purely physical reaction, I told myself. This was business.

Oh, who was I kidding? Ranger had every intention of mixing business and pleasure. And if I was being honest with myself, part of me was looking forward to it. The rest of me was terrified.

Check out was at noon. I took a quick shower and did what I could to tame my hair. Not an easy fete with the aggressive level of curl. I scrunched some gel into it and hoped for the best, swiping on a little eye liner and mascara to make up for it in case things went horribly awry. I put on a pretty red and white wrap skirt that tied over my hip, exposing a glimpse of thigh when I walked, and topped it with a white knit tank top and flowing white overshirt. Added strappy sandals for good measure. I was going for sexy casual. I thought I pulled it off.

I looked at my watch. Just enough time to check out, and then I had two hours to kill before I had to head to the airport. Might as well grab some breakfast. I looked at my watch again. Make that lunch. Damn. And I really wanted breakfast. Stupid jet lag. Maybe there was a place nearby that would still make me pancakes.

I carted my bags back to my rental car and walked across the street to the beach. It was already filled. Half with surfers and locals that were bronzed and golden specimens in their skimpy beach attire. Half with tourist with sunburns and bodies gone soft from working in office caves that never saw the light of day. I felt comfortable that I was somewhere in between. Not tanned by any stretch, but not particularly flabby either.

I found a little cart that was selling coconut milk ice cream in waffle cones. I figured technically the first meal of the day counted as breakfast. And coconut _is_ a fruit. That makes it healthy, right? And there's even a waffle involved. I bought a double scoop, perfectly happy with my rationalization. I took my healthy breakfast in hand, pulled off my sandals, and started down the beach.

They say that the sands on Waikiki have been shipped in from all over the world. Manhattan and California, Australia, even China. Needed to cover the jagged rocks left behind by the constant beatings from the elements. That might have been true once. Now most of the sand was pumped in from off shore, covering the miles of beach with a smooth finish that in some places is only a few inches deep. I paced along the shore, watching the surfers bob along the surface while I enjoyed my breakfast.

I wandered down to the international market. It was a crowded, open air bazaar with narrow avenues and vendors hocking everything under the sun. There were carts that sold inexpensive jewelry, handmade candles carved right on the street, wind chimes and key chains and pornographic playing cards, and canvass draped stalls that housed clothing and rubber-soled beach shoes. I looked through the sarongs that were hanging on a metal rack. A violet and black one caught my eye. It was decorated with brindled patterns around the white outlines of flowers and vines. They were on sale two for one, so I picked out another in solid black with large red hibiscus flowers and paid for them, heading back down the beach.

The airport was even busier than it had been the night before. It was hard to keep track of the flow as thousands of people moved in drifts from one end of the baggage claim area to the other. I tried to calm the angry butterflies in my stomach. It didn't feel quite right, being this excited over someone other than Morelli. Even though we weren't exclusive, and I wasn't technically doing anything wrong, there was still a part of me that felt like I was betraying him.

Then a familiar figure separated from the crowd and the dull ache turned into instant heat.

Ranger was possibly the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. He was about what you would get if Hercules was Cuban, with hair and eyes the color of dark chocolate and skin like smooth caramel wrapped around the perfect body of a warrior. There was also a darkness hidden in him that was undefined. I had a suspicion Ranger was still working off his twelve labors.

He stood still a moment, nearly six feet of immovable stone in the center of the flowing river. His pressed short sleeve linen shirt was an understated black on black, open at the collar to show several inches of his kissable mocha skin. Neither his shirt nor his black slacks were wrinkled from his fifteen hour flight. I never knew how he managed to look so good. It was almost unnatural.

His sharp eyes scanned the crowd. Then they settled on me and turned warm in a way that melted me right through my center.

Here's the thing about Ranger. He's smart. Sexy. Incredibly handsome and virile. And sometimes when he walks toward me like that I feel like I'm being stalked by a big, lethal black panther sizing up his next meal. And it sends a quiver through my body in all the best places. I hadn't known him all that well the first time we'd spent the night together. Just well enough to understand what a scary proposition it was. I'm not usually a one night stand kind of girl. Being raised Catholic gave me some pretty strict ideas about what constituted acceptable behavior. I'm not saying I always prescribed to them, but I always knew better.

A night with Ranger had been worth any guilt that might have come along with it.

I'd tried really hard not to repeat the experience. Not because it wasn't amazing. Ranger made love with an animal instinct that was intoxicating. No. My resistance was more out of self preservation than anything. Marriage and family weren't in Ranger's current life plan. He didn't exactly live a lifestyle that allowed for deep, meaningful relationships. I'd managed for a long time to keep the blistering chemistry between us at a low simmer. Until recently.

He didn't hesitate when he reached me, catching me with a gentle hand at the back of my neck. He kissed me and I couldn't help but lean into him. Pulled into his gravity by the change of air pressure that always surrounded him. It wasn't a scandalous kiss, nothing that would cause a scene in the congested airport, but for a few seconds I was afraid I was going to catch fire.

"You taste like coconut," he said, his lips still brushing mine.

"I had coconut for breakfast." Ranger drew back enough to look at me. Our eyes held for a second and I could see the humor shining there, crinkling at the edges. "Okay, it was coconut ice cream, but it had a waffle cone. That counts as breakfast."

"Babe."

I let go of his shirt and smoothed out the imaginary wrinkles. I could feel his tight stomach through the linen. He smelled incredible. Even after fifteen hours on a stuffy airplane, the scent of his Bulgari Green shower gel lingered. His fingers caressed the back of my neck. He was barely touching me and it still felt unbelievably intimate. I moved back so that I wouldn't be tempted to tear his clothes off in public. "We should get going," I said, thankful my voice didn't quiver like the rest of me.

Ranger smiled as if he'd read my thoughts. Smiling was rare for Ranger. He lived a high stress life that didn't give him a lot to smile about. Except for me. I seemed to have a talent for amusing him. He slung an arm around my shoulders and kissed me above my ear. "We can get going whenever you want."

Oh boy.

We hadn't gone more than a few steps before my feet froze. I hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the people around us, but it was hard to miss the 6'5" mass of hard Hawaiian muscle by the luggage carousel. He looked like he could rip me in half. He was bald, with bronze skin and a tribal tattoo that showed beneath the sleeve of his tight black T-shirt. I couldn't see his eyes behind his mirrored sunglasses, but I had the distinct feeling that he was watching us. I also knew it wasn't the first time I'd seen him today.

Ranger must have felt it when I faltered. "Something wrong?"

"I know it's weird, but I'm pretty sure that guy by the luggage carousel is following me. I saw him when I was at the international market place an hour ago."

"I'd have been disappointed if you hadn't spotted him."

I looked up at Ranger through narrowed eyes and a grin pulled at his mouth. "You had me followed?"

"Babe. You came to Honolulu by yourself. I texted Noah the second you told me Morelli was still in Trenton."

"Wow. Thank you for the vote of confidence."

Ranger's grip on my shoulders tightened and I felt more than heard the soft laugh that escaped him. "It's not a lack of confidence, Babe. Just a precaution."

"A precaution against what, exactly?"

"Hard to say. With you, just about anything is possible."

I elbowed him in his ribs and he laughed again. "So he's what? A bodyguard?"

"Local PI. He and his partner Rico work for Rangeman whenever business brings me to the islands."

Noah was standing at parade rest when we approached. He didn't wait for introductions. Just handed Ranger a set of keys. "Everything you've requested is in the car. Rico saw to the additional items this morning while I was with Ms. Plum. If you need anything else, just call."

Ranger nodded. "Steph, give Noah your keys so he can return your rental car. We won't be needing it."

"Okay, but all my stuff is still in it. I have to go get it out."

"Already taken care of," Noah said.

I raised my brow at Ranger and held the keys out for Noah. He accepted them without the least bit of surprise and left. "How did he move my things out of the trunk without the keys?"

Ranger looked at me. I was amusing him. "Noah has ways."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The keys Ranger had in his hand were for a brand new black Porsche Cayman. Ranger had several cars in his personal fleet at home. A Porsche Cayenne, an F150 truck, and my personal favorite, the 911 Turbo. And that's not counting the vehicles his men drive. I've all but given up hope that I'll ever find out their origins. He seemed to have access to an inexhaustible supply of new and expensive black cars. I looked the Cayman over. It was sex on wheels.

"They didn't have a 911 Turbo?"

Ranger glanced at me as he pulled the driver's side door open. "Are you sassing me?"

"Who, me?"

He grinned, retrieving a box from under the seat. He set it down on the driver's seat and opened it, pulling out a 9mm Glock. He tucked it at the small of his back and covered it with his shirt. Another, smaller gun went on his ankle. He added a knife and then turned to me. His eyes did a slow scan of my tank top and flimsy red and white skirt. "I like this outfit, but it doesn't leave a lot of places to stash a weapon."

"When I got dressed this morning I didn't know I was going to have to accessorize."

"I always want you to accessorize," he said, offering me a .45 Smith and Wesson just like the one I had at home in my cookie jar. I dropped it into my shoulder bag and he raised a brow at me. "Not the most effective place to keep it. We might have to think about getting you a holster that straps to your inner thigh." His eyes dropped to the slit in my skirt. "Could be fun. I also have cuffs and a stun gun for you, and some pepper spray. None of which are strictly legal for you to carry in this state, so it would be best if you didn't draw too much attention."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Not now. I'm sure I'll have something else for you once we get to the hotel."

"If you were going for subtlety, you missed."

Ranger turned to look at me, his eyes all predator, and when he stalked toward me I found myself backed against the car. Not entirely unpleasant, but it was a stark reminder that the barriers I'd been holding up between us were gone.

"You want me to be more subtle?" he said, brushing his knee along my inner thigh as his body pressed me into the car. I was suddenly light headed. I knew I should say something clever, but for the life of me I couldn't think about doing anything beyond breathing, and even that took a tremendous amount of concentration. He touched his lips to mine in a kiss that was far too brief. "Get in the car."

It took me a moment to feel my legs again, but I finally managed to climb into the Porsche with at least some of my dignity. The thrum of the engine moved through me and almost finished what Ranger had started.

The Cayman swung up to the curb in front of the Honu Ku'ono Resort, parking in the wide circular driveway. A porter in green and white came to the driver's side window. A few words and he was gone, pulling more luggage out of the tiny trunk than should have logically fit.

Ranger paused, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He didn't say a word. Just took my left hand and slid a ring on my finger. It was a perfect fit. He angled out of the car, leaving me alone with the ring. It was stunning. A colorless three carat diamond in the center, surrounded on both sides by half carat stones, all set into an intricately carved white gold band. Ranger opened my door and I gaped at him.

"Are these real diamonds?"

"Yes. So try not to lose it."

"This must have cost a fortune!"

Ranger looked like he was thinking about smiling. "I know a guy," he said, tucking another velvet box back into his pocket. He slid a matching tungsten band onto his own finger and offered me a hand to help me out of the car. I still couldn't take my eyes off the ring. It sparkled in the bright sun, throwing off flares of pure light like a prism with a thousand faces. Ranger lifted me from the car and pressed his lips to my hand, amused by the wonder in my eyes. He brushed the ring with his fingers. "Pretty."

I could only nod. He wrapped an arm around me and led me into the hotel. After a moment he leaned over and kissed my ear. "If you don't stop staring at that ring they're gonna know you haven't been wearing it long."

"Maybe I haven't. We could be newlyweds. Or you could have just upgraded my ring because you got drunk with your friends and did something stupid."

"There's that sassing again. If you keep it up there might be repercussions."

"Like no dessert?"

"Like you're dessert."

I didn't have an answer for that. He seemed to know he'd won because there was a genuine smile on his face when we reached the front desk.

Thomas wore a polite smile, looking at me with uncertainty. "You're back," he said, his eyes moving over Ranger. Most people find Ranger intimidating. Hell. If I'm being honest, even I find Ranger intimidating. There's a pervasive silence around him that makes him enigmatic. And when he smiles, there's something feral behind it. Charming, yes. Civilized? Not a chance. I'd gotten to know him well enough that I'd found a level of comfort in the silence. I can even sort of read it most of the time. Thomas looked like he'd just had a mini stroke.

"We have reservations," Ranger said with his most charming smile. "Carlos Manoso."

"Y—yes, of course," Thomas said, tapping away at his computer. He cut a glance at me. "And—"

"My wife, Stephanie."

He said it without a hint of irony. It took a little effort for me to keep a straight face, considering Ranger's view of marriage. Thankfully, Thomas didn't notice.

"Yes, of course. Mr. and Mrs. Manoso. I see you requested one of our private cottages. It doesn't look as though you've chosen to take advantage of any our Sanctuary for Marriage workshops. If you like, there are still several that have openings."

"No. That's not necessary."

Thomas looked as though he was supposed to be more insistent, but was having trouble finding the words. I took pity on him. "My husband isn't really the feelings sharing type, but I'll look over the list. Maybe we could find something. Actually, I was hoping to get in the same ones with my friends Tootie and Simon. They were supposed to check in yesterday. I don't suppose you could sign us up for those, could you?"

He couldn't entirely hide the grim set that took over his smile. "I'm sorry. As I told you yesterday, we have a very strict privacy policy. It's one of the reasons our clients choose us over other resorts. Comprehensive security. If your friend provided you with a list of activities she wanted you to join her in, I would be happy to do what I can to make room."

"Are you sure? I was hoping to surprise her."

"Unfortunately that's out of the question. But if you'd like to design an itinerary of your own, I'm sure you'll be happy with the services we provide."

"Great. Thanks."

He nodded and gestured toward the main lobby. "If you'll follow me."

Thomas led the way through the lobby and into the resort. I leaned into Ranger. "I was really hoping it was going to be that easy."

Ranger only smiled.

Thomas walked us through wide glass doors and out into a paradise of landscaped pools and lagoons that looked as though they'd been discovered rather than designed. Each one was surrounded by foliage so dense it gave a complete illusion of privacy, and beyond it all, the Pacific stretched out into infinity.

"We have both salt and fresh water pools, and each is serviced by the central bar. There are gardens to the east, and if you head down the path between, you'll find access to the bay. It's very popular for snorkeling and sunbathing. There are even more amenities in the main building of the hotel, including a spa, gym, and several highly rated restaurants. And of course, anything you need can be made available day or night in your suite."

He showed us through an arbor and onto the beach. I pulled my sandals off and carried them. They were too hard to walk in on the soft, wet sand. There were a number of couples playing in the surf, and lounging along the shore on reclined wooden deck chairs. I scanned the water carefully looking for any sign of Simon or Tootie. Then I saw that Ranger was watching me. "What?"

"You're cute when you're focused."

Just what every girl wants to hear. "I don't see you being focused."

"I'll be focused later."

I bet. I looked him over while we walked side by side, his black linen shirt and slacks rustling in the wind, his shining black loafers making dimples in the pale sand. Ranger always wore black. Some people thought it was because he was dark and mysterious, like Batman. I knew it had as much to do with efficiency as it did the fact it was good for his image. It made things simple. Everything in his closet was black, from his usual Rangeman uniform of a black t-shirt and cargo pants all the way to his perfectly tailored business suits, which he wore with a black dress shirt and black on black striped tie. Even the wedding band he was wearing was black, made of tungsten carbide and carved with details that matched mine. Usually he blended in better, but on the wide, open beach the contrast was much more dramatic.

I watched him a moment and had to suppress a laugh. He cut his eyes to me with a questioning look. I glanced at Thomas to make sure he was out of earshot and leaned closer to Ranger. "You look like a contract killer failing to blend in."

A smile pulled at his mouth. "Pretty sure you're the only one thinking that, Babe."

"I can't be the _only_ one."

The shake of his head was almost imperceptible. It was closest Ranger gets to an eye roll.

A path led up from the beach and through another arbor, opening up into a sheltered yard. There was enough foliage on this side to give it complete privacy from the public beach. A quaint little cottage was nestled into the garden. Thomas opened the door and let us into the cozy living room.

It wasn't very big, maybe 1000 square feet, but what it lacked in size it made up for in luxury. The kitchenette that attached to the living room had dark gray granite countertops, and stainless steel sinks and appliances. A door stood open at the end of the room, leading to the master bedroom. Three suitcases were already standing beside the king sized bed. Two were mine. I assume the third was for Ranger. He hadn't been carrying anything when I picked him up. And we hadn't stopped at the luggage carousel. This bag must be courtesy of Noah the local PI.

I saw Ranger slip Thomas some money and close the door behind him.

"So, where do you want to start looking for Simon Ruguzzi?" I asked, checking out the master bath. It was all textured cream tile and glass. The shower was easily big enough for two, and the bathtub was wide and deep. Perfect for soaking. "We obviously can't ask the front desk what room they're in."

"Not sure it would help even if we tried," Ranger said from the doorway behind me. I hadn't heard him approaching from the living room. He was stealthy like that. "The Rug had a dozen aliases _before_ he spent three years in the wind. No telling what name he'd be using now."

I opened the French door beside the tub and found a tiny porch with an outdoor shower. The sandy steps led directly to a little stretch of private beach hedged in by ferns and flowering bushes. "We might have to hang out in the public areas, then, and hope we come across them," I said, closing the door again.

There was another door beside the shower that led directly to the master bedroom. The bed was a daunting concept. It shouldn't have been. It's not like it was the first time I'd shared a bed with Ranger. I'd even lived with him briefly before on a few separate occasions, both in his apartment and in mine. Though, those had been non-conjugal arraignments, usually a result of direct and eminent danger.

Not that he hadn't tried each time to add a little conjugation.

I slipped by the bed and headed for the wide, sliding glass doors. A world of green existed beyond them. A secret little nook where the sun poured in from overhead between the walls of bamboo and hibiscus. There was a spa in the center of the little garden, in full view of the sun. The air was sweet with plumeria and ocean and sand.

I saw Ranger step into the room out of the corner of my eye, his feet making no sound on the hard wood floor. "Actually, I was thinking we should start somewhere else. Like the hot tub," he said, pulling off his ring to set it on the bedside table. "The Ruguzzis aren't going anywhere tonight."

That was tempting. "I'd have to get my swimsuit out of my bag."

"Or not."

"Cute," I said. He didn't seem to be joking. "It's outside. Anyone could see!"

"No one can see. It has complete and total privacy." He stalked toward me from behind and my pulse jumped, the yard suddenly out of focus. I could feel Ranger's smile when his atmosphere intersected with mine. He left no space between us. "Assuming you're not too loud."

"We don't have time," I said, having trouble meaning it. "We need to check out the restaurants before we go to dinner."

Ranger's hands found my waist a second before he ran them up my sides. He slipped them into my overshirt and pulled it down off my shoulders, planting a kiss on my bare skin when he let it fall away. "Or we could stay in and order room service."

Okay, here's the deal. At the top of my list of absolute favorite things are birthday cake, great sex, and room service. In that order. So, this was a huge temptation for me. Two out of three would be really hard to turn down. He kissed my neck and I felt the tie release on my skirt. All he had to do was let it go and the whole thing would float to the floor.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea," I said, my voice all but gone.

His fingers traced my bare stomach beneath the edge of my tank top, his lips following the line from my shoulder all the way up. "We could see if they have birthday cake," he whispered, his mouth brushing my ear.

And I was done for.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

I was wrapped in two things when I woke the next morning. A delicious glow left over from a night spent making love in the most intimate and satisfying ways, and the warm body of the man I'd spent it with. Outside the windows I could hear birdsong and the gentle roll of the ocean, but here only his slow, even breaths broke the stillness. Enough light came in through the part in the curtains that I could see his dark hair falling over his forehead, like it had last night when he'd moved over me with a hunger I hadn't anticipated.

As if he'd sensed my thoughts, the arms around me tightened, tucking me into his side. He kissed my shoulder. "Morning."

"Morning," I said, fighting a dopey smile. He kissed my collar bone, and then my throat. It was entirely too pleasant. "What time is it?" I breathed on a sigh.

"Late."

"How late?"

He didn't answer. He was busy following a line across my jaw, heading toward my mouth. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table. "Oh crap."

"What now?"

"It's after 10."

"Understandable. You're fighting a six hour time change, and we didn't get a lot of sleep last night," he said, leaning over me. He nuzzled my neck and my thoughts scattered.

"But we missed breakfast."

"So we'll order in."

"That's not what I mean." I couldn't remember the point I was trying to make when he was touching me like that. It took some effort to disentangle myself, but I managed to wriggle out of the bed and put on the first thing my toes hit. Ranger's black linen shirt. "We should be canvassing the public areas looking for the Ruguzzis. They're here somewhere right under our noses. They could be next door and we'd never know it because we haven't left the room."

Ranger was watching me button his shirt over my stomach, my entire breastbone exposed in the space left by the open collar. My legs stuck out beneath the hem that came just above mid thigh. His eyes drifted down my body, lingering on the key points. I was amusing him. I flapped my arms to my sides in frustration.

"Aren't you going to help me?"

The grin widened. "I helped you several times last night, but I'm willing to give it another shot."

"I'm being serious!"

"So am I."

He reached out and snatched my hand out of the air, dragged me back down onto the bed and covered me with his body. I tried to object, but it was hard not to like the way his weight pressed me into the mattress.

"Steph. I've never had you all to myself before. No client meetings to get in the way, no emergencies or death threats. And I don't have to share you with Lula or your grandmother or Morelli." He kissed a slow trail down my exposed breastbone, unbuttoning as he went until he could lay the shirt open. "We'll find Ruguzzi. He checked in only a day before we did and I don't see him checking out for at least a few days. That gives us time to get a lead on their itinerary. Then we can take him down when we're ready," he said, his lips caressing my stomach as he spoke. "Does that sound agreeable?"

Pretty much everything sounded agreeable when Ranger's mouth was on me. I think I sighed in answer because the next thing I knew the clothes were gone again and I was well on my way to singing the Hallelujah chorus.

Ranger hopped in the shower while I laid all limp-noodle on the bed for several minutes, waiting for the slow hum of ecstasy to dull. The bell over the front porch rang and I was sorely tempted to let it keep ringing. The only thing that dragged me off the bed was the fact that I knew it was room service.

I wrapped a fluffy white robe around myself and answered the door.

A man in a hotel uniform brought the tray in and set it on the little bistro table beside the kitchen. Once he was gone, I lifted the lid on the silver tray. Bagels, cream cheese and lox with a bowl of diced fruit. Ranger's usual breakfast. I chose an everything bagel, spread a generous amount of cream cheese on it and wandered back toward the bedroom.

I decided to call my parents' house and tell them about the change in hotels. I didn't want them to worry if they decided to call and couldn't reach me. It was my Grandma Mazur who answered. She was a spirited woman in her seventies who looked like she was in her nineties, living with my parents now that my Grandpa Mazur was enjoying the roast pig at God's heavenly luau. I hadn't realized until I was an adult just how alike my Grandma and I are. Neither of us is strictly conventional. I wanted to be Wonder Woman when I was growing up. Grandma Mazur still wants to be one of Charlie's Angels.

"So, how's Hawaii? You getting a lot of sun? Or are you too busy staying indoors with Joseph?"

"Actually, Joe couldn't make it. He caught a triple homicide in the projects the day before I left. It's nearly impossible for him to find time to get away from work."

I knew it wasn't fair to be bitter about that. Morelli had a hard job. He was up to his neck in the worst society had to offer, and he did it without losing his faith in mankind as a whole. He was a good guy and a great cop. Sometimes it was just hard not to feel a little unimportant at the end of the day. Especially considering Ranger had dropped everything to fly out unannounced.

That didn't mean I was more important to Ranger than I was to Morelli. Ranger had his own motives.

"So you're out there in Hawaii all by yourself?" Grandma asked.

I hesitated, glad that Grandma wasn't as good at reading silence as Ranger was. I didn't really want to tell Grandma about the new arrangement. It wasn't that she wouldn't approve. In fact, Grandma had made it clear on many occasions that she thought a naked Ranger was a worthwhile endeavor. But telling Grandma might mean inadvertently telling my mother, and there was no way my mother would approve. Ranger wasn't even boyfriend material, let alone a potential husband. He wasn't going to put down roots or give her grandchildren. Ranger was the bounty hunting mercenary that dressed in black and scared the neighbors.

"It's fine. I live all alone in my apartment in Trenton. This won't be any different."

"True. Maybe it'll even be a good thing. Maybe you'll meet a nice hottie and still get to have fabulous vacation sex."

"Meeting a hottie isn't in my plan, but I'll let you know if one turns up. I really just called to tell you that I changed hotels. I got a special deal for the Konu Ku'ono Resort. It's this really great cottage right on the beach."

"A special deal, huh? First the free plane tickets and now your hotel. If your luck gets any better you might end up with Mr. Right in Hawaii after all."

"Grandma, the plane tickets weren't exactly luck. He was planning to kill me."

"And it was lucky that he died first and left you the tickets. I'm telling you, I've got a feeling that this vacation is going to change your life."

Great. That's promising. "Look, I gotta go. Love you Grandma," I said and disconnected. I looked up and saw Ranger standing in the doorway with a fluffy white towel in his hand and nothing else.

"I take it you didn't tell your grandmother I was here."

I shrugged. "I knew she'd tell my mom and then it would turn into a big thing. My mom has only barely accepted Morelli in my life, and that's mostly because she tells herself we're almost married. I don't think it would go over well to tell her I was shacking up with you in Hawaii."

And there was the almost smile again.

"Did you tell Vinnie and Connie you were headed out of town?"

"I left a message."

"I should probably call the office too and check in."

He hung the towel over the bar in the bathroom and headed to the room service tray without putting any clothes on. "Give Lula and Connie my love."

I leaned back to watch him through the doorway. He really was perfect. Every part of him. A bronze demigod with defined muscles from his broad shoulders all the way to his chiseled ass. And when he turned around—let's just say every inch of him was beautiful. And there were a lot of inches. He caught me staring and our eyes held before I turned back to the phone. Pretty sure I heard him chuckle.

Connie answered the phone after only a couple rings. Connie Rosolli was a couple years older than me, and twice as Italian. She's been Vinnie's office manager for as long as I could remember. She also seemed to do most of his job while he was hiding in his office from various lowlifes.

"Hey, how's Honolulu?"

"Beautiful. How are things going around there?"

"Same ol' same ol'. Vinnie's been writing a lot of bonds lately for some real losers. You might have a decent stack of skips by the time you come home."

"Is that Stephanie?" asked a voice from nearby. Lula. It was really hard not to love Lula. She was a former hooker and the most larger than life person I've ever met, wearing bright hair and neon spandex that barely contained her chocolate voluptuousness. Sometimes she did filing at the bonds office, but mostly Lula did whatever the hell Lula wanted. A lot of the time she tried to help me with takedowns. We weren't especially effective, but we always got our man eventually. When we were after a skip it was a little like if Wyle E. Coyote partnered up with Elmer Fudd.

Be ve _w_ y ve _w_ y quiet. We' _w_ hunting fe _w_ ons.

Lula came on the line. "Hey Girl! What's the deal? I saw Officer Hottie down on Stark Street this morning. I thought he was supposed to be in paradise with you."

"He had to work."

"Huhn. He passed up a chance to get busy on a tropical island so he could go look at dead people? Who in their right mind would choose dead people over a trip to Hawaii?"

"Just one of those things."

"Must be. I tell you, that man is fine, but he don't know much about relationships. And speaking of fine and sexy, it sounds like your man of mystery has vanished again."

"He didn't vanish," Connie said beside her. "I just got a message from Rangeman saying he would be out of town for a couple weeks on business. It's not like he's dropped off the face of the earth."

"Might as well have," Lula said. "He could be anywhere. Hunting down FBI's most wanted, or stopping a military coup. He's like a superhero. He leaves the Batcave and then CNN gets all excited about one thing or another."

"It's probably just Rangeman business," Connie pointed out. "He does own offices in places other than Trenton. He might be at his Miami office."

"Maybe. Hey, what do you think the chances are that he'll drop in on Stephanie while she's all alone and sexy-copless in Hawaii?" Lula asked. I think she was mostly joking, but there was a long pause while they waited for me to weigh in on that possibility.

I looked in again at Ranger standing naked in the kitchen, the warm scent of coffee drifting into the room. "Yeah. What are the chances."

"Omigod," Connie said. "He's there with you, isn't he?"

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. "He sends his love."

There was an audible gasp on the other line. It wasn't a chaste sound. "You can't hold out on us. Tell us everything. No detail is too small," Connie said. "Where is he right now?"

"In the kitchen making coffee."

"What's he wearing?"

I bit my lip to keep from grinning. "A smile?"

"I think I'm gonna faint," Connie said, and I could hear the rustle of the file folder she was undoubtedly using as a fan.

"Girl, you must'a done something spectacular in a past life to get not just one incredibly hot hunk of man candy but two," Lula said. "I honestly don't know which one's hotter. Well, no, I guess I do. Morelli is fine and he got a nice ass, but he's no Ranger."

I heard Connie make some sounds in agreement. I was guessing she hadn't yet regained all her faculties. I kind of felt like I should defend Morelli, but that might have gotten awkward with a naked Ranger in the next room.

"Anyway. I was just calling to check in. We moved into a nicer hotel, but you can call my cell if you need to reach me."

Connie made another noise. I think it was acknowledgement, but to be honest I just wanted to get off the phone before they asked anything else.

I tossed the phone onto the bed and stretched. The workshop brochures were sitting on my bedside table. I pulled them into my lap and started thumbing through them. Ranger came back into the bedroom, two mugs clutched together in one hand, a small bowl of fruit in the other. He set the bowl down on the end of the bed and handed me one of the mugs. It was pale and creamy. Just the way I like it. His eyes settled on my left hand. "You're still wearing the ring."

I looked down, giving my fingers a wiggle to catch the light. "What? It's pretty."

Ranger smiled behind the rim of his coffee. He set it down and forked a piece of pineapple, feeding it to me before he lounged back on the bed, taking one for himself. "Find anything promising?"

"Not yet. I was hoping there might be a something that jumped out at me. It would be so much easier if there was an obvious choice for someone like The Rug. You know, like _Marriage for Murderers_ or _Analysis for Assassins_." Ranger looked at me, the ghost of laughter in his eyes. " _Healing for Hitmen?"_

"Got anymore?"

" _Bonding for Bad Guys."_

"You can do better."

I thought for a second. " _Contract Killer Karma Sutra?_ "

"I might be willing to go to that one."

He fed me a piece of cantaloupe and took the brochure from my lap to look it over. I started making notes in the margins of the main schedule. His hand stroked my thigh in an absent way. I thought it might have been unconscious, since his eyes were still on the brochure, but when the second pass was more deliberate I knew he was toying with me. I kept making my notes. Two could play at that game. After a minute he tossed the pamphlet aside and leaned closer to me. He pulled the shoulder of my robe away so that he could kiss my bare skin.

"I was thinking we should go to the beach today," I said, deliberately ignoring him with as straight a face as I could manage. "Maybe walk the main building before we check out the restaurants."

The way he was pulling at the robe loosened the tie, allowing a gap in the front. He slipped a hand inside. "And was thinking we should check out the private spa again."

I couldn't deny the idea had its merits. The spa was fantastic. We'd spent so much time in it already that I was surprised I wasn't a permanent raisin. "How about we check out the spa again after dinner?"

He caught my ear with his teeth. "How about both before and after dinner. And maybe during."

I cut my eyes to him, but he was unrepentant. I narrowed them to show my seriousness. "The beach. Then the spa. And then you take me to dinner. With desert."

"Is that your counter offer?"

"Final offer."

"I could bring out my ruthless negotiating skills," he said, caressing lower inside the robe. I drew in a quick breath in response. It was exactly what he'd been going for.

I gave Ranger a shove and pressed his back to the bed, leaning over him. "I have negotiating skills too, you know."

"If this is your opening move, it'll be a short negotiation."

"Try me."

He searched my face with an assessing glimmer, ending on my mouth. "Alright. You win. And to show you what a good guy I am, I'll even help you shower."

"Wow. That's very generous of you. That's a real sacrifice."

"What can I say? I'm a generous guy," he said, rising up enough to kiss me.

By the time I was out of the shower and Ranger made sure every inch of me was thoroughly sunscreened, it was already noon. I didn't bother doing much with my hair. The curls had a mind of their own in the island humidity. I was wearing a little red bikini, my new red and black sarong tied around my waist in a way that left a slit running with fringe all the way up my leg. I could tell by the way Ranger's eyes dilated that he approved.

We stepped out of the back door and down to the narrow, private stretch of beach behind our cottage. It was easy to see the other cottages once we reached the shoreline. A dozen of them were lined along the beach, nestled into the trees between the golf course and the hotel. I knew there were others scattered around the resort, but these were the fanciest. The ones with the most privacy.

It was a good quarter mile walk to the populated part of the beach. Ranger slipped his hand around mine, like any other husband and wife out for a stroll. We found a pair of reclining wooden beach chairs between the shore and the bar.

Ranger settled with deceptive ease onto the chaise, his dark sunglasses hiding his eyes. He ordered drinks from a passing waiter and leaned back like a large cat bathing in the sun.

The Hawaiian shirt he'd pulled out of the suitcase wasn't bright or flashy like most of the other men. The black fern pattern was barely there on the black woven fabric. He had it unbuttoned halfway down his chest, hanging loose around the waist of his black board shorts. If I hadn't seen where he'd stashed his gun, I would never have known it was there.

The waiter came back with a bottle of Corona and something pink and fruity inside a pineapple. It even had a little umbrella. I'll be honest. The little umbrella made my day. I must have made an obvious noise because both Ranger and the waiter looked at me with a smile.

We people watched for a long time while I sipped at my pineapple. Ranger barely touched his beer. Not that I'd expected him to. Ranger didn't drink a lot, and he never got drunk. Ranger was always in control. I, on the other hand, was hardly ever in control. I could drain an entire big boy margarita and be lost to the world in ten minutes flat. I don't have much of an alcohol tolerance.

I heard the rattling gurgle of the straw only half drawing liquid at the bottom of my pineapple. Oops. Guess that would explain the warm glow that had covered my brain. Ranger looked over at me with a raised brow and what might have been a half smile. "Want another one?"

"If I have another one, I'll forget why we're out here."

"You mean when we could be naked in our bed?"

Our bed.

The words just hung there in my brain while their meaning raced up and down my body in equal parts electricity and alarm. I don't know why it hit me like that. We'd shared his bed before, with his dreamy mattress and high thread count sheets. We'd shared my bed, too, in the modest, outdated apartment where I lived with my hamster, Rex. We'd slept side by side enough times, and we'd even made love on occasion, but there'd always been a degree of separation. Even when I'd lived with Morelli in the little narrow row house he'd inherited from his aunt, it had been his bed. Not ours.

Now Ranger and I were sleeping together in our own bed. No separation. No barriers or pretext. And the scary thing was I kind of liked it.

Which opened up a whole other set of issues entirely.

Ranger leaned toward me an inch. "Steph? Are you alright? You look like you just swallowed the top of that pineapple."

That was a pretty accurate way to describe it. A faint wave of nausea rolled through me and I wasn't sure how much of it was the alcohol. I searched the hundreds of bodies that dotted the beach and didn't truly see any of them. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine. I haven't seen that much panic on your face since you almost hyperventilated at the idea of sleeping with me for the first time."

"That was because you were talking about handcuffs."

"It wasn't just the handcuffs."

I felt awkward just sitting there with the way he was watching me. I took up his beer from the little table between us for want of anything better to do and took a larger gulp than I was intending. Probably not the best idea, adding more alcohol. But then, that was suddenly feeling about par for my current level of decision making. Ranger's hand settled on my bare thigh through the slit in my sarong, his wedding ring gleaming dark against his skin, and my swirling thoughts got the better of me.

"Why do you have something against marriage?"

I didn't dare look at him, even to try and read his thoughts. Wouldn't have helped anyway. This was Ranger we're talking about. Man of mystery. Master of the blank expression. He was silent a moment as though weighting his answer. "I don't."

"You have to. What's with all this never getting married stuff unless you have something against it?"

"I don't have a problem with the institution. I just don't see it as a personal option."

"Why?"

"I've told you why."

"No you haven't. Not really. You've said you don't plan on marrying. You said you're not family material because you carry guns and a knife. You said you don't have the kind of lifestyle that allows for relationships, but the truth is lots of people carry guns and your lifestyle has changed since then."

"Not enough."

"What's enough?"

He just kept watching me a moment and I kept a careful eye on the shoreline. The hand on my thigh was a warm weight. "This isn't the time or place to discuss it."

"Is there a time or place to discuss it?"

He considered that a moment before he turned to the shoreline too. "Probably not."

I tried not to show how sad that made me. I took a long pull on his beer and held it out for him. He lifted his hand off my thigh to take it. "I'm gonna get in the water for a little bit. You coming?"

"No. I'm good."

I pulled the knot open on my sarong and dropped it onto my chaise, kicking off my shoes. I didn't turn back to see if he was watching me. Didn't need to. There was no way he wouldn't be. What I was afraid of was that if I looked back and saw his face I would say something I couldn't take back.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

I let the warm ocean roll around me for a long time, standing waist deep in the waves. The sand was thin on this part of the beach. I could feel the sharp rocks beneath my feet sometimes when it shifted with the undercurrents. If I wasn't careful where I walked, I was going to end up bleeding.

The metaphor was just a little too poignant given my situation with Ranger.

I tried to push it aside, but I could still feel it sitting on the back of my brain. Ranger was a problem. That wasn't exactly news to me. Ranger was always a problem. From the first time I realized he was attracted to me. Ranger didn't do emotional attachment. At least, that was the plan. I don't know how much success he'd had with it, since he's about as easy to read as a sealed book.

Sometimes he admits that he loves me, in his own way. No clue what that means. I can feel the admiration and the genuine affection, and I sure as hell feel the heat. I know I'm important to him, because he devotes a surprising amount of time and resources to my safety when he feels I'm threatened. And if he knows my life's in danger and he can't get to me? He can be flat out scary.

Morelli's different. He loves me out loud and on purpose. Well, mostly on purpose. He probably regrets it on occasion, given the way he drinks antacid by the crate when my life gets complicated. I'm not sure why it is that our relationship is so fragile. I think it has to do with the fact that if you add us together you only get one full grown adult. I guess it takes at least one and a half to make a relationship work.

We'd probably get married if I was even a little more conventional. If he didn't hate my job and the way I attract danger whether I'm chasing down bad guys or not. And sometimes I think I might like being married to Morelli. He could be good husband. Maybe even a good father.

Problem is he wants me to be something I'm not. He wants me to be the kind of girl that is content to stay home, and do things like cook dinner and remember to buy bread. The kind of girl that isn't addicted to the thrill of the hunt. Who doesn't wade through the gutters and chase down rapists and murderers. And I might be that girl someday. Just not any time soon.

Morelli trusts me, but he doesn't seem to have a lot of faith in me. A direct contrast to Ranger, who has more faith in me sometimes than I do. Ranger doesn't sit back and hope I'll grow out of this phase in my life.

I know I love Morelli. He's fun and sexy and smart. And things are easy with him, most of the time. Trouble is I love Ranger, too. I try hard not to think about what that means, because if I ever figured it out, my life might never be the same. Because the biggest problem with Ranger was that it was impossible to see a future with him—but at the same time I couldn't imagine a future without him.

A flare of light caught in my ring, reflecting off the water in a spray of color. I couldn't help but sigh. My love life is complicated.

I dove headfirst into an oncoming wave and let it rake over me. When I popped back up to the surface I looked around and saw that Ranger was watching. I waved and I'm pretty sure I saw him smile. Ranger thought I was amusing.

I padded back up the beach across the hot sand and dropped onto the chaise beside him.

"Feel better?"

"Maybe. Might want another pineapple."

A grin lifted his mouth. "You want to drink it here? Or take it home?"

There it was again. I had to concentrate not to let it show on my face. "Home."

Ranger stood and headed behind me to the central bar. The sun was warm across the top on my body, my tanning skin still sparkling with drops of water and flecks of sand. I took one last long scan of the beach. I hadn't been searching as diligently as I should have been, but I was pretty sure my quarry hadn't shown up. By the time Ranger returned I was ready to head back to the cottage.

He put the new pineapple in my hands and gathered up my things from the sand. I looked down. There were two umbrellas.

Ranger slid my sandals back onto my feet and offered me a hand to help me up. When he tied the sarong around my waist again it involved some skilled and highly stealthy groping.

I turned to leave, but Ranger stopped me. He pulled me against his body, the groping not nearly as stealthy this time. He kissed me with enough passion that I might have been embarrassed if I'd been able to think about anything else. His tongue touched mine and I dissolved into him.

"Ready?"

I gave him a numb nod. I was ready for him right then and there, and he damn well knew it. He wore a crooked smile when he gave me one more kiss, brief this time, and slung an arm around my shoulders, leading me back to our cottage.

We washed off some of the sand with the outdoor shower and headed inside. Ranger set his gun on the bedside table, his ring next to his gun.

The water was warm and turbulent when we settled into the spa, my fruity drink still in hand. My bones melted. If there is anything more relaxing than hot, bubbling water, I haven't found it.

Well. Maybe one thing.

Ranger slipped his hand into mine under the surface and floated me toward him, settling me between his knees with my back against his bare chest. He brushed a kiss to my temple. I sipped at the bright orange straw in my drink, enjoying the feel of Ranger's body all around me. "I think this pineapple is getting me a little drunk."

His chest moved under me and I knew he was laughing. "It doesn't take a lot, in my experience."

"Would it take a lot to get you drunk?"

"Used to."

I took another sip. It was really tasty. I couldn't tell what was in it, exactly. Oranges, probably. Pineapple. Mangos. Strawberries. Possibly some lime. And I was betting a good measure of rum. If I wasn't careful, the whole thing would be gone again and I might end up more than just a little drunk.

I let my head roll back on Ranger's shoulder and he kissed my forehead, my curls plastered black against his caramel skin. When we'd been on the beach Ranger had certainly looked at ease, leaning back in the lounge chair with his arm stretched behind his head as though he hadn't a care in the world. There'd still been tension, though, if you knew how to see it. Ranger never let his guard down in public. There wasn't any tension in his body anymore. It had all dissolved away as soon as we were alone.

"I don't think I've ever seen you relax this much. You're usually so busy."

"I'll admit I don't get a lot of downtime these days. Mostly just when I'm with you."

"Are you saying you spend all your downtime with me?"

"When I can."

"So what does that make me? You're favorite form of entertainment?"

He nestled me tighter against him, his mouth grazing my jaw line. "You are pretty entertaining. And not just for me. You've got a smart mouth and things tend to catch fire and explode around you. Every man in my organization finds you entertaining."

"Great."

He laughed. "Babe. That's not the only reason I like to spend time with you."

"Then why?"

"I have to tell you?"

"Maybe."

He took my drink and set in on the decking, then traced kisses down from my temple to my neck and out to my shoulder, his hands on me too. "It's easier to show you."

"So this is about sex?" I asked, though my point was getting elusive. I didn't like the idea being entertainment, but sometimes it was hard to keep that in mind with the blood leaving my brain and all.

Ranger lifted something red out of the water and I was pretty sure it was my bikini top. "It's about more than sex."

"Like what?"

Something else splashed out onto the deck and I was guessing I was naked. Ranger seemed to have a talent for that lately. "Babe," he said in my ear in a way that was almost my undoing. "We could have a deep, meaningful conversation about feelings that might not end well. Or I could make love to you until you see colors."

Hmm. That was a tough one.

I was wrinkly and there wasn't a bone left in my body by the time I climbed out of the spa. That made it a little challenging to get dressed again, but in the end I managed to slip into my new gauzy white sundress. I had a brief moment of guilt looking into the full length mirror. I'd bought this dress for Morelli. It had a low, lacey cowl neck and a flowing skirt that came just above my knees. Morelli would have wasted no time peeking down the front of my dress to see my boobs. Even if he'd just done a thorough inspection. And the skirt would have had a hand up it in no time. Morelli's playful like that. He had this endearing way of making me feel flirty and sexy and casual, like we were on even ground.

Hard to feel on even ground with Ranger.

Ranger stepped into the bedroom while I was fishing my white strappy heels out of my suitcase. He looked edible. His slacks were pressed and smooth, his black dress shirt hanging close enough to his body to show just how flat his stomach was behind his black belt. The top two buttons were open, no tie, and topped with a black suit jacket that looked like it didn't need any padding. There wasn't a loose inch or awkward fit anywhere on him.

"Didn't Noah get these clothes for you sight unseen? This looks like it's been tailored."

"Noah's good at following instructions."

"Noah's magic."

A smile tipped up the corner of his mouth, his eyes doing a slow scan of my dress. "He's not the only one."

Okay. Ranger was good at flirting too. Where Morelli was physical and full of energy, Ranger was cool and clever. Ranger could do a lot with just a look. Add innuendo and things get pretty steamy.

He picked up the little clutch purse I'd set out to go with my shoes. "This is pretty, but it's a little light. I'm guessing your S&W isn't in it."

"I figured we didn't both need guns."

Ranger's brow rose slightly.

"We're just going to dinner. And it wouldn't fit."

"I knew I was right about the holster for your inner thigh."

"Because that's just what I need. To take something designed to create small explosions and strap it to my lady parts."

He smiled. "If you want to cancel our reservations and stay in again tonight, I'd be happy to demonstrate my dedication to your lady parts' well being."

"You made reservations? I thought we were going to look in all the restaurants."

"We are, but some are harder to get into than others, and this is a good way to get a look at who else is making reservations. There's no way of predicting what name he'll be using, but there's often a pattern. If I see any partials of his known aliases, it could give us a place to start."

"Smart thinking."

"That's why they pay me the big bucks, Babe."

There were four restaurants in the main hotel, not counting the central bar. Ranger had made reservations in all of them. The first one was a little bistro café on the ground floor near the lobby. We probably didn't need reservations. The tables were only half filled, since it was still a good hour before the dinner rush would be in full swing. But it let us get a table in the back corner, which was the best spot to watch both the tables and the lobby, and it put Ranger's back to the wall. Ranger always sits with his back to the wall.

We ordered an appetizer and sat in silence for a while taking it all in. Most of the couples around us were subdued. Full vacation mode. Some of them had sunburned noses and a head start on happy hour. I admit, I was still a little buzzed too after two pineapples and half of Ranger's Corona. Guess it was easy to overdo it in an island paradise.

The waiter brought out our appetizer and I was a little surprised to see it was raw tuna and avocado on large, crispy chips, drizzled with a tangy sauce. Ranger picked one up and ate it. His brow rose when I hesitated.

"It's raw."

"And?"

"Seems risky."

Now he was amused. "Babe, I've seen you pack away a half dozen doughnuts in a single sitting. You wanna talk risky?"

"That's different. Doughnuts aren't raw."

"I've seen you eat raw cookie dough, too."

"Still different."

The smile won out. "Tell you what. I'll let you order at the next place."

"Deal."

We sat for half an hour while Ranger picked at his appetizer and paid the check. No Ruguzzis. We went to the next place and got a similar table, but this time the lounge was a lot more than half filled. There were couples at single tables, and groups that had booked together. The nearest group was loud and animated. Clearly enjoyed each other's company.

Ranger sat back in his chair and watched me while I looked over the menu. His face said he thought there was a punch line coming. I looked up at the waiter. "We'll have the nachos. Extra cheese."

The grin pulled at Ranger's mouth. "You never disappoint."

I made a face at him that was only slightly more dignified than sticking my tongue out.

When the waiter came back, he carried a plate of what could loosely be described as nachos. The chips were wafer thin, and there were fresh diced tomatoes and peppers and little green bits that must have been chilies, all smothered in a decadent sauce that put 7-Eleven nachos to shame. Not what I was expecting, but I have to say I approved.

I was surprised when Ranger had some. He was usually the clean living type. Ranger didn't put unwholesome things in his body.

By the time we got to the third place, it was packed. Ranger had timed the reservations with eerie precision. We were walking up to the hostess podium right at seven o'clock.

Ranger leaned toward the hostess with one of his most charming two-hundred-watt smiles when she asked for his name. "Manoso," he said with velvet in his voice, holding her gaze. "I requested a special, intimate table for me and my wife." The hostess blushed clear up to her roots. For a second, she looked like she might have forgotten her own name. Ranger's eyes wandered over the list of reservations while she rolled her tongue back in her mouth, trying not to look at me.

"Yes. Of course," she said, following his eye line. "Table 17. If you'll come with me."

I tucked my hand into the crook of Ranger's arm and the hostess flushed again, leading the way into the restaurant. I leaned into him. "That was mean. You nearly made that poor girl wet her pants."

"I guess my aim was a little off. You require a lot more effort than most women."

"Is that a bad thing?"

He looked down at me and I suddenly felt like I might be lunch. Guess that's a no.

Ranger held out a chair for me. He touched my shoulders when he slid me back into place. It didn't feel nearly as innocent as it looked. I tried to be cool about it. "See anything helpful after you gave the hostess an aneurism?"

"It's possible." He settled into the chair beside me so that his back faced the corner. "I saw Terron on the reservations list from yesterday. It's pretty close to one of the aliases The Rug was using in Trenton. Taroni. Could be a coincidence, but it's worth checking out."

"Did you get a room number?"

"The hostess's finger was covering the rest."

"And she looked like she'd lost feeling in her extremities."

"I've been known to have that effect."

"So how do we check it out? If you turn on the charm again she might combust."

His mouth tipped up in a half smile. "Can't have that, can we?"

The waiter came by and Ranger ordered two glasses of wine and a salad. I thought about getting a salad too, since I was still pretty full from the nachos. But in the end I got a steak with a side of lobster. I figured a wife who was wearing a three carat diamond would order the lobster, right? Didn't want to blow my cover.

There was laughter in Ranger's eyes when the waiter went back to the kitchens. "You just did some Olympics-level rationalizing, didn't you?"

"Are you saying I shouldn't have ordered the lobster?"

"I'm saying if you'd looked any more excited, I might have been jealous."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't get jealous."

The slight rise in his brow was his only answer. I shifted a little in my seat.

"So, where do we go from here?" I asked, mostly as a change of subject.

"I know where I'd like to go from here."

"I mean with the room number."

Ranger was still amused when he scanned the crowd. "We'll try and catch a glimpse on the way out. Shouldn't be too difficult."

The waiter brought a bottle of wine to the table and filled our glasses. I took a sip. Ranger might not know much about eating, but he had excellent taste in wine. Before long, the waiter was back with a filet mignon and a whole lobster tail on a large oval plate, garnished with steamed vegetables. He set Ranger's salad in front of him.

I couldn't help the mocking smile. "Mmm. That salad looks good. Very filling."

"The body's a finely tuned machine, Babe. Gotta take care of it," he looked over at my plate. "Let's just hope you don't have to run later."

"Who would I be running from exactly?"

There was wolf in his smile when he met my eyes. Gulp.

Ranger finished eating before me. He leaned back in his chair and watched with amusement as I finished packing away 15oz of meat. I offered him some, but he turned it down. I had a sneaking suspicion he was waiting to see if I'd be able to finish it. By the last bite I was glad I wasn't wearing jeans. I would have had to open the top button.

"Can you handle dessert? We could call it a night."

"What do you think?"

He was smiling when he passed the waiter his shining black credit card.

The hostess was standing at her podium when we passed by. They had turned the page. I thought another dose of Ranger might give her temporary amnesia, so I stepped ahead of him and got her attention. "Excuse me, but I was hoping you might be able to help me. My friend Tootie Terron was here with her husband last night and she swears she dropped one of her earrings at their table. I was wondering if it would be too much trouble to let me check for her."

"Oh, I don't—do you know where she was sitting?"

"No, but she made reservations. Maybe you have it written down?"

"I can look," she said, turning the page back. She skimmed her finger across the page. "Table 16. To the right of where you were sitting. Would you like me to have someone look?"

"That would be fantastic, thank you."

"Of course," she said and contacted someone on the unobtrusive headset she was wearing. Her finger was still on the line in the registry. M. Terron, 6:15. No room number listed, but there were some letters in the space, followed by the number 6. She turned back to me. "Do you know what it looks like?"

"Emerald, I think. With diamonds."

The hostess listened for a moment and then frowned. "I'm sorry. They didn't find it."

"Bummer. Well, thanks for trying."

The hostess nodded and Ranger put a hand to my back to guide me out. "Smooth."

"That's why they ought to pay me the big bucks."

Ranger slung his arm around my shoulders. "Make this capture and they will."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The last place was on the third floor and it was super fancy. One of those Three Star Michelin rated deals. The whole place looked like it was made of onyx and crystal, with black tables and shining black floors, and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling like clusters of icicles made of cut glass. The staff was dressed in professional looking black shirts and slacks, and the walk-in line for the bar alone was probably forty-five minutes long. For just a second, I was surprised that Ranger had been able to get reservations on such short notice. Then I remembered that he was Ranger.

He spoke to the maître d and, after a very brief conversation, we were lead to a booth in the corner beside the windows that overlooked the ocean. The cresting waves glistened in the moonlight like they'd been studded with diamonds. Ranger pulled me onto the bench seat next to him so that we could face the room together, slipping an arm around my shoulders.

Ranger didn't bother looking at the menu. Ranger never ate dessert. It was one of his superpowers. Personally, I lived for dessert. I wouldn't say it was a point of contention between us. It was just one of the only downsides to having dinner with him. His housekeeper was an amazing cook, but she never made dessert. In fact, I could only remember seeing Ranger eat sweets once in all the time I'd known him. A single chocolate chip cookie. And minutes later, he'd pulled me into my bedroom and altered the axis of my universe.

He leaned into me and his hand touched my knee. "Babe. What are you thinking about? Because I swear you're body temperature just jumped up a couple degrees."

I was betting it was raising even more with him so close to me. Deep breaths, Steph. Deep breaths. It didn't help. Not with as good as Ranger smelled. His hand moved an inch up my knee, flirting with the hem of my skirt.

"Are you sure you want to wait for dessert?" he asked, his eyes dropping to my mouth.

I was saved from having to choose between something chocolate and something Ranger when the waiter came over to our booth. He was a pleasant looking man in his late fifties, with a charming, almost-handsome face and a lot of laugh lines around his mouth and eyes. He might have been Portuguese, or maybe Spanish. There was a light accent when he spoke. "Ah. This is why I adore these retreats. It's wonderful to see young couples so in love."

Ranger turned his attention to the little man, but his polite smile was thin. Luckily, the waiter didn't seem to notice. He was too busy beaming at me. He asked if we were ready to order and I glanced at Ranger. "Whatever you want, Babe."

I looked down at the menu again and temptation got the better of me. "The espresso fudge crème brulee looks amazing."

"It is one of our more popular desserts. And you sir?"

"Coffee will be fine."

"Very good, sir. And may I say, your wife is very beautiful. You're a lucky man."

Ranger looked at me and our eyes held. "Some days more than others."

"Ah. And that is the secret to a long, happy marriage, yes? To take life one day at a time. And of course, a date now and then to keep the fires burning." He beamed at us once more and nodded into a bow before he turned to leave.

I looked back at Ranger. "Do you think that's true?"

"Hard to say," he said, tracing a finger along my bare arm. "Were you able to get the room number?"

It wasn't lost on me that he'd changed the subject. Part of me was actually relieved. Long, happy marriage probably wasn't something either of us was in any way qualified to discuss. We'd both been married before in a previous life, and neither marriage had worked out the way things are supposed to.

In my case, I'd married a selfish, philandering dog who'd nail anything that moved. Including my archenemy and general succubus of a human being, Joyce Barnhart. I'd found her playing rodeo roundup on my dining room table with said philandering dog before I'd finished unpacking my new wedding china. The result was a screaming match of a divorce that became the stuff of legend, and is still a well discussed subject of gossip in the neighborhood of my upbringing.

Ranger's marriage seemed to have been much less traumatic, but almost as short. He'd gotten a nice catholic girl in a family way one night when he was on leave as a young, enlisted soldier. Being the honorable guy that he is, he'd done right by her and stayed married just long enough to give her daughter his name. From what I understand, he's been on pretty good terms with both his ex and the man she married a few years later, and he's been a consistent if somewhat distant part of his daughter's life ever since.

The story wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be the first time he'd mentioned his failed first marriage. But it did make me wonder if Ranger had ever made a real commitment before to anything but duty.

I could feel his eyes on me, but he didn't interrupt my thoughts. I pressed my fingers together around my ring. It was an odd weight that I still hadn't gotten used to. Probably best I didn't.

"Yeah," I finally managed to answer. "Sort of. It was some kind of shorthand, though. I don't think it was in the main hotel."

"That's possible. There are also villas, condos, and a few different clusters of cottages spread throughout the resort. What did you see?"

"C E 6."

"Sounds like it might be a cottage."

"That's what I was thinking. Do you know where that is?"

"Not yet," he said, tracing his fingers along the nape of my neck. "How would you like to take a long stroll in the moonlight? Might get lucky."

"You're still talking about the hunt, right?"

"Babe, I'm always talking about the hunt."

My crème brulee had been even more orgasmic than I'd anticipated. Ranger had been pretty entertained watching me treasure each bite while he sipped his coffee. I was disappointed when I reached the last spoonful. Tempting idea to get another one. I was stuffed, but I'm sure they would have packed me one to go.

I'd just put the last bite in my mouth when I gagged on my spoon. Tootie was standing at the maître d station. Ranger looked at me a second before he followed my eye line.

"We should do something," I said under my breath, more to myself than anything.

"If you get up now you'll cause a scene and it'll be harder to follow her later. Let her go. We'll pick her up again."

"But she's right there!"

"And she'll be right there again when we run her to ground," he said, stroking my neck, hoping to calm me down. "We'll do some recon. Track her the old fashioned way." He leaned into me and kissed me just below my ear. It sent a hum through my already excited body like a plucked harp string. "It'll be fun."

Tootie nodded to the maître d with a smile on her face and turned away, heading toward the elevators. I knew Ranger was right. There was no sense chasing after her now and taking the chance of getting made. I had anonymity on my side. And not only that, she wasn't expecting to be followed. I had both anonymity and the element of surprise.

So why did I feel like I was sitting back waiting for disaster to strike?

I tried to let Ranger's intoxicating scent and dizzying atmosphere distract me, but it didn't work. After a moment I pulled away and slid out of the booth. "I'm going after her."

"Babe. We still have to pay the check. By the time we're through here she'll be long gone."

"Then you can catch up," I said and started for the doors at a quick pace. I could hear him calling to me but I was too determined to stop. Like a terrier with a scent, I couldn't just let it go. I kept as even a pace as I could until I got out into the hall, and then I sprinted for the stairwell.

The lobby was crowded. Hard to spot a single person through the crush. I searched the people leaving the elevators and felt my heart skip a beat. There she was. Heading through the eastern doors into the garden side of the resort. I held tight to my little clutch purse and pushed bravely into the crowd. It took some maneuvering, but I got out through the doors only a minute behind her.

The gardens were made of shadow in the moonlight. It was hard to tell where she'd gone. I listened for footfalls. For a moment, all I could hear were my own breaths. Then I caught movement to the right and heard the faint rustle of leaves. I started after her.

Tootie's footsteps paused and I stopped in my tracks. Arms closed around me from behind. A hand covered my mouth and nose to stifle my squeal. It took me a second to realize that it was Ranger. He felt my relief and let go of my mouth. Not the rest of me, though. He had me tight against his chest, his mouth on my ear. "That was a reckless move, Babe."

"I was being careful!"

"Not careful enough. You're alone in the dark, unguarded and unarmed."

"You don't think I can chase Tootie without you? That's insulting."

"Babe, I know you're perfectly capable of dogging Tootie or any number of targets all on your own, but the pot of gold at the end of this particular rainbow aerates brains for a living, and I like your head the way it is."

That was kind of sweet in a gruesome, icky sort of way.

"How'd you even find her? I thought you said it would be hard if she had a lead like that."

"I didn't find her, I found you. I had the Rangeman control room call up your signal the second you started running."

"But the GPS unit is in my other purse."

"I moved it while you were getting dressed."

"You've gotta stop doing that."

His arms tightened around me and I could feel his smile when he lowered his mouth to my neck. "Do you really want me to stop?"

Probably not. "Would it make a difference if I said yes?"

"I doubt it."

"Tootie's getting away." It was a halfhearted complaint. I was really enjoying the way his lips were caressing my skin. If his hands started exploring too I'd stop caring about Tootie all together.

"She's only fifty feet ahead of us," he said, kissing me in the hollow between my neck and shoulder before he let me go. He kept his arm around my waist and pulled me to his side. "If we get spotted by her or anyone else, you're wasted."

"Giggly wasted or can't walk straight wasted?"

"Play it by ear."

We started off again in the general direction Tootie had gone. I couldn't hear her anymore, but I could see growing lights from the cluster of little cottages beyond the hedges. The other side of the bay would be behind them. I could already hear the hiss of the waves lapping at the beach.

A narrow path of paving stones led into a tree lined walk. A lone figure wandered through. She was walking slower than she had through the garden. Enjoying the night perhaps. Or maybe she was just less wary now that she was out in the open. Either way, she was strolling at a leisurely pace, taking in the cool breeze and the sweet scent of paradise.

It was hard to tell where she was going. There were a few different avenues she could take. The cottages were smaller on this side of the resort. More of them fit together like a tiny village. There were doors on either side of us, some with lit windows and some dark, but I could tell the other paths beyond this avenue would lead to more cottages closer to the shore.

Tootie suddenly paused in mid step. She hesitated a second, and then turned to look back at us. Ranger didn't miss a beat. He promptly grabbed my ass. I yelped my genuine surprise, and then gave him an uncoordinated shove in the shoulder. "Be nice!" I said, trying to find the line between flirty and foxed.

"Oh, I'll be nice," he answered, and he picked me up around the waist and lifted me to his chest, my feet dangling several inches off the ground. My back hit the front door of the nearest cottage, Ranger pressing into me. He nibbled at my neck and I let out a giggle that was only half put on. My fingers grasped at his suit coat, and then at the collar of his soft, black dress shirt. I had to clench my hands tight to keep them from pouring down his body.

He started to draw back and I grabbed at the back of his neck to stop him. It felt too good to let him go. He froze for an instant. When he moved into me again all the playing was gone. His mouth covered mine and suddenly his hands were everywhere. I felt him catch the back of my knee and pull me around his hip so that he could press his hard body against me, and then his hand was sliding up my skirt. He reached mid thigh and just kept going.

The spell shattered when the door behind me opened. I would have spilled backward onto the floor if Ranger hadn't been quick enough to catch me. The man wasn't amused when he looked out at us. "Do you mind?"

"Sorry!" I said, adding a light slur to my giggle. "I guess we got a little lost. I'm so sorry."

Ranger looped an arm around my waist wearing a huge grin. He lifted me up and set me on the sidewalk. The man shook his head at us and shut the door.

"Did you see where Tootie went?" I asked Ranger when we'd wandered back onto the path.

"Only for a minute. She turned a corner and I was about to suggest we follow her when your priorities changed." His hand wandered back down toward my ass. "You still want to follow her? Because I'm ready to go home and pull this dress off of you."

I was ready for that too, but Tenacious Stephanie couldn't quite drop it yet. "Just one more try. We should find out where we are. See if it matches the shorthand for Terron."

"Alright. I'm game. But it's going to cost you."

I looked up at him, still feeling flirty. "Promise?"

There was the wolf again.

I sped up my pace before he could snatch me up and make me change my mind about finding Tootie. We both knew he could do it. He caught my hand before I'd gone too far. He didn't pull me back, though. He let me skip ahead a few steps, watching me intently with an easy smile.

The path was clear around the bend.

Cottages numbered 12 and 13 were to our left. No lights on. I ventured further down the path, looking for cottage number 6 and hoping for the best.

There was movement ahead and Ranger whisked me off the path into the brush between 9 and 10. He held me close to his body with one arm. It might have been arousing if I wasn't aware that his other hand had moved to his gun. A shadow crossed under the lights and paused just outside of their influence. I held my breath for a long moment. The figure scanned the bushes, and then the buildings, before moving on.

I let out my breath in a huge rush and felt Ranger laugh silently against me. He hadn't tensed at all. Hiding from a mysterious shadow while on the hunt for a contract killer was all in a day's work for Ranger.

We stayed to the bushes this time, walking around in the landscaped space between the darkened cottages and the shore. I was very aware of Ranger's body moving beside mine. He was in predator mode. There was something incredibly sexy about the silent, fluid way he moved through the shadows in his all black suit. Like a feral James Bond. I only saw the glint of his drawn gun in the darkness. Next to him, I was feeling pretty conspicuous in my white dress and heels.

Ranger stepped in front of me and I kept a hand on the small of his back to keep my pace even with his. He put a second hand on his gun. The bushes made no sounds when he pushed through them, peering into the enclosed yard of 8 before passing it by. My eyes drifted down his back, and then my hand slipped below the equator. I hadn't done it on purpose. But if I was being honest, it wasn't completely an accident either.

Ranger paused. When he half turned to look at me, I knew he was grinning. "Babe."

I tried to look innocent. No way to tell if he could see me in the darkness. "Sorry."

I'm sure we both noticed that I didn't move my hand.

He shook his head and pressed through the next yard. Some of the lights were on in the front of the cottage, but they weren't bright. Maybe a television. I could hear music coming from the windows. We were careful to stay quiet, treading through the yard around the flowering bushes. Ranger was better at it than I was.

The windows to 6 were black and vacant when we reached the side yard. Empty. I looked around the little covered porch at the back, but the lanai didn't have any discarded flip flops or slippers or any other sign that this unit was occupied. I hoped for a second that I'd counted wrong, but Ranger had paused too, studying the disappointing building.

He crept closer to the windows, me right behind him. It was a pointless gesture. All the cottage windows were shaded. Even the cottages that were empty.

"Guess we're in the wrong place," I said, my voice just above a whisper.

"It's possible."

I let out a sigh. Pretty anticlimactic after chasing Tootie halfway across the resort. I took a step back to find my way out of the bushes and my foot slipped. Ranger tried to catch me too late. I fell backward into the greenery and took Ranger with me. My back hit the flowerbed hard, Ranger landing on top of me, and for just a second I had the jarring out of body feeling that my head had inflated. Ranger's arms closed around me, cradling my head. The way his body rocked with laughter was doing funny things to me. Very pleasant things.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. I felt way better than okay. He was warm and hard all over, his familiar weight pressing evenly over every inch of me. I could see him well enough in the faint moonlight to recognize the glimmer in his eyes. See the smooth, savage heat that took over his handsome face. He lowered his head and touched his lips to mine, soft at first, and then firm and sure, his hands moving down my body. I reached into his open jacket, feeling him through his shirt until I either managed to get the buttons open or popped them off. His hands moved up my skirt.

"We need to go home right now," he said against my throat.

"But it's so far."

"This was supposed to be a simple night out. I didn't bring anything with me."

Cripes! I just can't win tonight! I thought about the long, _long_ walk back to the cottage. Then I thought of the way Ranger's fingers were stroking my thighs, his body taunt and ready. And then I thought about the little package of pills I'd been taking as a backup.

Two forms of birth control is probably overkill anyway, right?

I weighed the risks and temptation won out. "I'm covered," I breathed in his ear.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

He didn't wait for any more confirmation than that. I gasped and he covered my mouth with his to swallow my excitement. At any moment the people next door could finish their movie and walk out on their lanai and hear the quiet, staccatoed breaths of passion only feet away. I was both thrilled and terrified by the idea. My body was singing with anticipation, the intensity building in me with every stroke until it spilled over. I dug my fingers into his back beneath his jacket and I felt his breath shudder against my throat. His lips slowed, finding my mouth again, his kisses tender.

We stayed there for a moment after, waiting for breath to return and heart rates to even. Every part of me was humming in perfect harmony.

And then light filled the windows above us.

Ranger froze on top of me. I knew my eyes must have been round with horror, but the truth is I couldn't feel my face anymore. I'd gone numb. Voices filtered out to us through the closed windows. It was hard to discern the words at first, but once the first shock of panic finally eased, a lot of things became clear.

"If we don't hurry we'll lose our table," a woman said from somewhere near the front door.

"Just one second."

The other voice was male, and so near to the window that I could hear his impatience. He was rummaging around, searching for something. He grunted in triumph, and then I heard a telltale slide of metal on metal that I'd come to recognize all too well. I looked at Ranger and our eyes held. I wondered if he'd be able to tell caliber and make just from sound alone.

Footsteps faded and the lights blinked out. We lay frozen there on the ground for a full minute, listening for any signs of life in the perfect stillness. Ranger lifted his weight off of me very slowly. We straightened our clothes and he helped me to my feet, leading me away from the cottage and down to the beach as fast as he could in the moonlight.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

We didn't say a word cutting through the resort. Not until we were locked up safely in our own cottage. Ranger was calm. I was a little freaked out.

"Do you think it was them?" I finally managed to say, shaking my hands in the hopes that feeling would come back to them. It's disorienting, going from a mind-blowing orgasm to absolute terror in two seconds. They were both such primal emotions. Polar opposites. And the confusing mixture of dopamine and adrenalin burn off had me shaking now that I knew the danger was over.

Ranger took my hands and lifted them to his mouth to kiss my palms before he draped my arms around his neck. "I think the circumstantial evidence is pretty strong. Probably not that many people bring a Ruger .45 to a five star resort."

"Just fugitives felons and you, right?"

He looked amused. "I've got a nine mil."

"Well, that makes all the difference."

Ranger smiled, pulling a twig from my hair. "Maybe we should get you in the shower."

"I can manage," I said. I was too exhausted at the moment to go another round, no matter how tempting it might be.

I started to pull away, but Ranger stopped me and dragged me up against his body. "Are you sure you're okay?"

I nodded, still numb. "I'll be fine."

"You always are." He leaned down enough to give me a slow, lingering kiss.

I followed my feet into the bathroom on autopilot and turned the tap in the shower. I turned toward the mirror and stifled a cry. My curly brown hair had turned into a bush, studded with leaves and twigs. My once white dress was ruined too. Torn and smudged with dirt stains across the back and sides that would probably never come out.

Morelli would never see it.

That was when it hit me all at once. Not only had I just had sex in the bushes outside of an infamous hitman's vacation cottage, but I'd done it with another man in a dress I'd bought for my boyfriend. I was officially the worst person ever.

I stripped the dress off before I could have a full blown panic attack.

When I got out of the shower, I found that Ranger had changed out of his sexy secret agent suit and into his usual black t-shirt and cargo pants. He pulled a slick black windbreaker on over the top to cover the gun in his utility belt. "Settle in and watch some television. I'll be back."

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Recon."

"And you were going to leave me behind?"

"Babe, it's a narrow window. I don't have time to debate this."

"I thought we were in this together."

"We are. But if that cottage really belongs to The Rug I want to get in and out before he has a chance to finish dinner. On the off chance that doesn't happen, I don't want you in his crosshairs."

"So you're trying to protect me?"

"Yes."

"And you think the way to do that is the drop me here and expect me to stay put while you run off into the night? With no small army of merry men to keep me from running after you?"

He stood there for a moment, his eyes holding mine. "You're going to make this difficult, aren't you?"

"Damn skippy."

Ranger looked like he was thinking about sighing. "You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes."

"But am a pain in the ass you're still gonna try and leave behind?"

He stared at me for a beat. Then glanced down at his watch. "You have ninety seconds and then I'm going, with or without you. And if you're not appropriately dressed, I'll handcuff you to the bed to make you stay put."

I didn't have to ask what he meant by appropriately dressed. I'd worked with him often enough. I threw my towel aside and rummaged through my bag. I pulled out the first black clothes I laid my hands on. T-shirt and dark jeans. I was hoping they'd fit well enough after stuffing my face at dinner, because there was a chance the most important accessory might not fit in the waistband. I shoved the .45 he'd given me in front of my hip where he could see it and covered it with my shirt. It wasn't very comfortable, but that was a price I was willing to pay to not be handcuffed to the bed.

I was still dragging on my running shoes when the ninety seconds were up. Ranger looked me over as though he wished I was still naked. And not just because he wanted to leave me behind. I think a part of him really wanted to see me handcuffed to the bed.

He gestured toward the door with something like resignation.

Ranger kept a grueling pace all the way back to the bay side of the resort. It made me second guess my umbrage about staying behind. I didn't complain, though. I was pretty sure he was doing on purpose. I had too much pride to double over when we finally reached the right part of the beach.

Ranger looked at me, not bothering to hide his grin. He didn't even have the decency to be out of breath. "How's that steak and lobster sitting?"

I was too winded to snipe back. I doubled over after all and had to settle for flipping him the bird. He laughed at me. "Come on, superstar. Clock's ticking."

I didn't move right away. Ranger scooped me up and carried me up the beach. He set me down on the lanai and listened to the cottage. The windows on 6 were still dark. That was a good sign. Unless its inhabitants finished dinner early while we were away and had gone promptly to bed, Ruger and all.

Ranger reached into my pants and pulled out my gun, closing my hand around it. I've never been crazy about guns. Truth be told, they scare the hell out of me. I've learned to use them, and I've come to accept them as an occupational hazard, but that's where my comfort level ends. I usually leave mine in my cookie jar at home most of the time. Which makes me the only person in New Jersey not packing heat.

I stood behind Ranger, my .45 pointed at the ground, while he turned his attention to the door. I'm sure the rooms and suites in the main hotel all used fancy key cards, but the cottages still had good old fashioned deadbolts. I don't know if it was for nostalgia or practicality. Either way, it was good for us. Ranger can get through a deadbolt in less time than it takes most people to find their keys.

He pushed the door open and listened to the silence. He led me in and shut the door, holstering his weapon. "Keep watch out front. This shouldn't take long."

No kidding. The cottage was smaller than ours. No kitchen. And the living room was little more than a sofa near the television. It was cozy, though. Well decorated. And it would be very easy to search, especially for Ranger.

I took up a post beside the front window while Ranger combed through the place. There wasn't a lot to find. A few brochures like the ones that had been left on my bedside table. A few more from a display in the hotel lobby. Those featured touristy kind of things people often did on the islands. Hiking Diamondhead. Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. There was one for the Dole plantation. Nothing personal had been left lying around. No wallets. No passports. Just a gaudy orange and lime green Hawaiian shirt that looked like it belonged in the midlife crisis collection.

Ranger opened the nearest suitcase and riffled through it with professional efficiency. Some clothes. Makeup bag. Lots of ladies shoes. The next bag had women's clothes. The last suitcase had a stack of official looking papers in the front pouch. Ranger started flipping through them.

Someone was approaching from the shadowy path up front. I tensed. I looked over at Ranger, but he didn't need me to signal. The second I'd gone still he started straightening what little he'd disturbed. He motioned to me and I followed him out the back door. He locked it behind us.

We were backing away from the cottage when the lights went on. We hurried down to the shoreline and then slowed to a leisurely pace. Ranger's arm went around my neck. Just a young couple out for a moonlit stroll. He pulled me closer to him and kissed on the top of my head. "Seems the people in that cottage are calling themselves Martin and Charlotte Terron. Didn't find anything definitive, but there was enough hardware in the husband's luggage to make me think we're on to something."

"Should we go back and pick him up?"

"Not yet. I want to get eyes on him from a distance first. Confirm we have the right target. I'll call Silvio at the Miami office and see what he can run down on these names. Might be able to get the reservation dates from the hotel's system."

"Think Silvio can manage that with all the hotel's security measures?"

Ranger looked at me. Right. Dumb question.

"How does he do all that stuff anyway? Is that even legal?"

"Best not to ask, Babe."

I shucked my jeans and climbed into bed when we got back to the cottage, flipping channels while Ranger made some calls. I settled on Letterman and got comfy with the covers over my folded legs. When Ranger came back into the bedroom, he was carrying his utility belt. He set the belt in his dresser drawer, the gun on his bedside table. The phone went next to the gun.

"Silvio had just reached his desk when I called," he said, stretching out next to me. His fingers traced down my spine in a casual way. Like it was normal for us to hang out in bed together. "He said at first glance Martin and Charlotte Terron look like tourists from upstate New York. Martin works in the HR department for an advertising firm, and Charlotte is a sales rep for a makeup company. Could be stolen identities. Could just be a nice couple who like to pack heat on vacation. Either way, he's going to keep digging. We should know a lot more by morning."

"Did he find out anything from the hotel yet?"

"Not while I was on the phone with him. I told him to call me immediately if they're scheduled to check out tomorrow. Otherwise, we should have plenty of time." His attention was becoming more focused on the small of my back where my shirt didn't quite meet the blankets. "Time we can spend any way we want."

"Did you have something specific in mind?"

He leaned in and laid a kiss on the exposed skin. It felt like a brand, the sensation running all up and down my spine. He pushed the shirt up another few inches and kissed me again. "I've got some ideas."

"Those ideas don't involve handcuffs, do they?"

I felt him smile before he lifted the shirt some more and kissed higher on my back. "Would that be a deal breaker?"

"Might be. I'm not really the adventurous type."

He paused and this time I felt him grin. "Babe."

I turned just enough that I could see him. "What?"

"Not the adventurous type?"

"What are you saying?"

He lifted my shirt off of me and tossed it to the floor, tracing my body with his hands. "I'm saying you chase felons for a living, and it's not because it pays well. You take more risks than I do with half the backup."

"I thought you hated that."

"I don't love it. But I'm fairly certain it qualifies you for adventurous."

"I guess."

"Not to mention the time you straddled me in my 911."

"That was pretty fun."

The hook on my bra released. "Speaking of fun," he said, kissing the nape of my neck. "You're covered, huh?"

Turns out the ideas didn't involve handcuffs, but some of them were pretty athletic. I was spent by the time we were done. We just laid there a while, twisted together in a mass of sheets and naked bodies, letting the sweet satisfaction lull us to sleep.

I was inches from dozing to the slow rise and fall of Ranger's chest when a thought ripped me awake. The pill. I'd almost forgotten to take it. Usually that wouldn't be such a big deal. It was just a backup precaution after all. To guard against the inevitable leak or broken condom, or impulsive lapse in judgment. But after the evenings activities it had suddenly been moved up to first line of defense. It would be very stupid to neglect the first line of defense.

I slipped out of the bed and padded to the bathroom as quietly as I could, closing the door. I flicked on the light. God. Every part of me was relaxed. I hardly wanted to lift my arms to reach my makeup bag. I pulled the little packet out and opened it. Then panic hit.

I hadn't just forgotten tonight. I'd forgotten for the last three days.

There was a good chance my coverage had expired.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I had to take a few deep breaths to keep from freaking out. Its okay, I told myself. It's going to be fine. I'll just take them all at once. That'll work, right? I was pretty consistent up until now. That's gotta count for something. I popped all three into my mouth and swallowed them with a generous gulp of water. I held onto the bathroom counter a moment to make sure I wasn't going to be sick.

It's not that I don't like kids. I absolutely love my nieces. And babies are cute, don't get me wrong. But I'm really not in a place right now that I could handle one of my own. I'm a pretty good hamster mom. Rex gets all the love and attention he needs. Which admittedly isn't much. I can pretty much leave him on his own for a day or two and he's fine. Can't really do that with a baby.

And that wouldn't be the biggest problem.

If Morelli got me pregnant, it would be the push that got us to the altar. He's even said more than once that things would be simpler that way. But Ranger. Jeez. That would be so far outside of the plan that I don't even know what he would do. Ranger has made it very clear that he didn't plan on doing anything stupid. That included both marriage and pregnancy.

I mean, he did offer to get me pregnant once when I was feeling particularly maternal, but I'm pretty sure he was kidding.

I shut off the bathroom light and stood in the darkness a moment before I pulled the door open and looked in at Ranger. The slow, even rhythm of his breaths told me he was still sleeping. The sheets only barely covered his perfect body.

He really was incredible. In every way. But there was so much I didn't know about him. I knew more than most people, but that still wasn't saying much. There were parts of his life that were locked up tight. Parts I doubt he'd ever share. Ranger was an encrypted black box.

If Ranger ever got me pregnant—

That was too scary a thought to even finish.

I was alone in the bed when I woke the next morning, sun streaming in through the windows. I looked at the clock. 7:37. A respectable time to get up while on vacation. I didn't hear Ranger moving around the cottage. Didn't smell coffee. I wasn't only alone in the bed. I was home alone.

The French door in the bathroom opened and shut again a second before Ranger walked into the bedroom soaked with sweat. He saw me and his eyes warmed. "Up already? I thought you might be down another hour after last night."

"I think you're overestimating your abilities." He wasn't. We both knew it. But I had to at least try to keep him humble.

He looked like he might smile at that. "How about I take a quick shower and we find out?"

I bit my lip. I'm not going to lie. I wanted to. I wanted to really bad. But after my minor panic attack last night I knew I needed to think some things through. Giving in to my Ranger cravings would only muddy the waters.

He pulled his t-shirt off over his head, his hard muscles glistening, and it took a great deal of my willpower not to lick him like an ice cream cone. Considering my track record with will power, this was a monumental achievement.

Better change the subject. "Where did you go this morning, anyway?"

"Ran a few miles. Then I went to the gym. I get a fair amount of cardio with you, but not a lot of strength training. I tried to wake you before I left. You weren't having it." He lost the sweatpants too and stood there totally naked. "Why don't you get some coffee brewing and join me?"

"I'll think about it."

I climbed out of the bed and dropped his t-shirt from last night over my head while he went back into the bathroom to start the shower. I went into the kitchen. Then I thought it over again and decided getting fully dressed was a safer way to go. It's not that it would slow him down if he was determined, but it might be a little less tempting than me in his t-shirt and nothing else. I set the coffee maker to do its thing and went back in the bedroom to pick out my clothes.

I was in a pair of shorts and a tank top by the time Ranger returned, his hair wet. He was freshly shaved and smelled delicious. He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Still naked. He looked down my fully dressed body and kissed my shoulder. "Are we going somewhere today?"

"I was thinking we should try one of the places the Terron's had brochures for."

"You know it's a long shot they would be there."

"Yeah, I know. But I can't just sit around waiting to hear from Silvio." Or waiting for my lousy sex drive to get the better of me. "Besides. I should do this stuff while I can. What are the chances I'll get to come back to Hawaii?"

"Depends. If every trip was this much fun, I might find an excuse to bring you back."

His hands were wandering, his bare chest against my back. His left hand moved over my breast and I leaned into him despite myself, my head rolling back on his shoulder when his thumb brushed my nipple through my lace bra. He kissed my neck and I almost forgot why I was trying to resist. Almost. Until I realized he was still wearing his wedding ring. I don't know if it was because he was comfortable enough in it that he forgot it was there or if he just hadn't bothered taking it off last night after we'd made love, but either way it wasn't sitting on the bedside table with his gun where he usually left it. Like the prop it was.

I moved toward the coffee maker. Just a few inches, but it was enough that he was forced to let me go. I poured out two mugs and handed one to him black before I adding cream to mine. Ranger watched me.

"Is something up?"

"Why would something be up?"

"You tell me."

Damn. He'd noticed. Of course he noticed. He'd have to be stupid not to, and Ranger was anything but stupid. The stress of trying to keep control of my emotions was giving me major doughnut craving. People deal with stress in all kinds of ways. Mine was doughnuts. Well, doughnuts and tastykakes. And candy bars. Birthday cake works pretty good too. Anything in the cake or pastry family, really. It was hell on my waistline, but it saved me a fortune in psychiatry bills.

Therapy by Sara Lee.

I added enough sugar to my coffee to make up for the lack of Boston Kremes, still too chicken to face Ranger. There was silence between us for a long time. Him waiting patiently for me to answer, me hoping he would drop it.

He didn't.

Sometimes when I'm stressed, a little voice in my head will whisper things to do that I know aren't the brightest idea. It comes from the part of my brain responsible for stupid decisions. Stupid Stephanie is usually a lot louder than Brave Stephanie. I don't know if it was brave of stupid of me this time, but after the silence ate at me for several minutes, I finally I gave in.

"If you had to do it all over again, would you have still married Rachel?"

He didn't say anything for a full minute. Not the answer he'd been expecting. "Why?"

"It was just something I was thinking about. I know your life was different then. But it's hard not to wonder. If you would have still married her today just because she got pregnant. If there was ever any chance you would have stayed married if things had been different. If you'd been living a different life. That kind of thing."

"Doesn't seem like a productive line of thought."

I turned to look at him. Couldn't help it. Not that there was anything to see. His face was unreadable. "You telling me you never think about it?"

"Rachel and I never had that kind of relationship."

"You never loved her?"

"No."

"But if you had loved her—"

"Babe. Don't dwell on it. It won't lead anywhere you want to go."

"Why?"

"It just won't. I know you. If you go down that rabbit hole you won't like what you find."

"What will I find?"

He didn't answer. He just stood there watching me. My stomach was squirming.

"You've said before that you love me."

"Because I do love you."

"You just never want to marry me."

"Babe."

I wanted desperately to drop it and let it go, but now that the elephant had been mentioned I couldn't seem to stop talking about it. "What if I got pregnant?" I said without thinking. Shit. This couldn't get any worse.

I don't know how, but his expression got even cagier. "Is that a possibility?"

"It's always a possibility. No matter how many methods I use. If it happened…would you do the same thing you did with Rachel?"

"No."

And there it was. The answer I didn't know what to do with.

He studied me a while before he set his coffee on the kitchen counter. He took my untouched cup from my hands and set it beside his. "Babe, I can smell your thoughts burning. That's not a good sign. I don't suppose there's any chance we can go back to the way things were last night?"

"I don't know."

Ranger pulled me against him. The fact that he was naked made me even more conflicted. "We could find something else to talk about. Live life one day at a time."

"Is that what you do?"

"It's what I have to do."

"Why?"

Ranger was starting to look like he regretted getting up this morning. "You're not going to drop this, are you?"

I chewed on my bottom lip, staring at his chin.

He drew in a breath and I could have sworn I heard him sigh. "This is why I can't do relationships."

"Because women ask too many questions?"

"Yes. And because the price of emotional intimacy is too high. Steph, there are parts of my life I'm not proud of. Things I've done that have seriously damaged my karma. It's hard to have a relationship with something like that hanging between you."

"It wouldn't have to. Maybe it would be healthy to talk about it."

"Healthy or no. Just because I have to live with it doesn't mean you have to."

"So your plan is to go through life never letting anybody in? That sounds kind of lonely."

"It's all I'm capable of right now."

I thought about that while I stared down at his chest. "What about later."

"There might not be a later."

"That's depressing."

Ranger looked like he might want to smile, but it was thin. "It's the way it is."

When I didn't respond he lifted my chin until he could see my eyes. He leaned toward me an inch, giving me plenty of opportunity to object. The kiss he gave me was gentle and soft.

"So what did you have in mind today?"

"I don't know. They might be planning to go snorkeling. Or hike Diamondhead."

His eyebrow raised a fraction. "You really want to hike Diamondhead?"

"No."

The smile wasn't thin this time. "Snorkeling it is."

He kissed me once more, with a little more passion this time, and went to get dressed.

We grabbed breakfast on our way through the hotel. Nothing fancy. Just a bowl of tropical fruit and a whole wheat bagel for Ranger. I got a stack of pancakes the size of a hubcap and ate it with coconut syrup.

A couple words to Thomas at the front desk and the valet had the Cayman waiting for us by the time we reached the wide glass front doors. The valet hurried around the car to open my door for me. Ranger angled into the driver's seat and put the car in gear, pulling away from the hotel. As soon as we were on the main road, he pulled off his ring and slipped it into his pocket. "Silvio's report was in my inbox this morning. Seems the couple calling themselves Terron are scheduled to stay another five days. The identities are thin. Probably manufactured. I'm thinking we've found our man."

"You knew all that first thing this morning? Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't time sensitive, and I was planning to get you in bed again before you had a chance to get distracted," he said, his eyes still on the road. He was probably thinking to himself that a distracted Stephanie would have been preferable this morning.

I had to admit he would have been right.

It took about twenty minutes on the 72 to drive to the southeast edge of the island. When we turned onto Hanauma Bay Road and I got my first glimpse of the crescent beach I started to get pretty excited. It was beautiful. The sun glinted off the gentle waves, highlighting the little sliver of sand that lined the western edge of the horseshoe shaped bay.

Ranger parked and stopped at the trunk before he came around to my side of the car. He was carrying a black bag when he opened my door. We walked in silence down the long, paved road that led down to the beach.

I started for the plywood shack that rented snorkeling equipment, but Ranger caught me by the waist. "Where do you think you're going?" he said in my ear.

"To rent a snorkel."

"Already taken care of."

I shot him a doubting look. "Are you saying you thought far enough ahead to have it on the list? Or is Noah actually magic?"

A half smile lifted his mouth. "One of the rare mysteries of life."

Ranger led the way to the southern end of the beach where it was less populated. He pulled two black beach blankets out of the bag and we spread them out on the sand. Then Ranger handed me a face mask. I thought for sure it would be black, like everything else Noah had provided. Instead it was blue with a bright, day glow yellow snorkel. I cut my eyes to him. "Let me guess. So it's easier to keep track of me in the waves?"

He almost smiled.

"Where's yours?"

"I've seen fish before."

"Now who's the smartass?"

That earned me a full on Ranger smile.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

I went out into the water a few times, stretching out beside Ranger on the warm blankets in between excursions. The sun felt incredible on my skin. It's surprising how much hotter it felt here than in New Jersey. Closer to the equator. Ranger mostly just watched me from the shore. Scanning the beach on occasion like an overprotective security guard. I was betting it was for the same reasons he always kept his back to the wall. Ranger was too smart to be vulnerable.

I tossed the mask on the blanket and flopped down next to him again. "Having fun?"

I could feel his eyes on my bikini from behind his dark sunglasses. "I have my moments. You about done?"

"I think so. I could use some lunch."

It didn't take us long to pack up our things. I waited until I was mostly dry before I dressed again. Ranger led the way toward the paved road.

I caught a glimpse of a gaudy orange and lime green Hawaiian shirt several yards ahead and I stopped breathing for a second. I knew that shirt. The guy's back was to me, his head covered by a lightweight cream colored straw fedora. He was about the right size. Might have been the right age. Hard to tell from behind. But his hair was dark with tiny streaks of silver around the edges under the brim of his hat. It was possible I was looking at Simon Ruguzzi.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

"Could be a coincidence."

"How many losers own a shirt that ugly?"

"Babe. Have you looked around much?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Not everyone can be Batman." I searched the beach around the guy in the gaudy shirt. No sign of Tootie. "I've gotta get a better look."

I started for him and Ranger caught me. "This isn't an ideal environment. Too many people in the way and he's heading the wrong direction. You'd have to run to catch up, or get him to turn around somehow. Either one would call too much attention. There's no need to rush. We've got four more days."

"I know, but—"

"Babe."

"I'll be careful!" I could see the skepticism even through the sunglasses. I tried stern indignation. "You're not the boss of me."

"I'm frequently the boss of you."

"Yeah, but not today."

"You're being difficult again."

"Deal with it."

Ranger raised an eyebrow at me and I had the sneaking suspicion I was one snarky comment away from getting scooped up and carried off the beach like a belligerent three-year-old.

I took a giant step back. The hope had been to put enough space between us to discourage him from doing just that, but I ended up tripping over some guy's cooler and went ass over teakettle into the middle of a cluttered beach spot. The umbrella folded around me and ripped open, bent ribs and broken stretchers everywhere as I landed on a flimsy lounge chair. There were shouts of alarm and anger and I felt Ranger's hand clamp around my wrist. He dragged me out from between the lounge chair and the busted umbrella.

I heard him say something to the people whose site I ruined, but I wasn't really listening. My body hurt. I looked down and saw that I was bleeding. I scanned the crowd for the man in the gaudy shirt. He'd turned to see the commotion when I fell. I just caught a glimpse of the side of his face before he vanished into the crowd.

Ranger wasn't happy when he pulled out of the parking lot and started for Honolulu. He hadn't said a word. Not while he patched me up with the first aid kit Noah had left in the glove box. Not when he'd stuffed me in the passenger seat and buckled me in like he thought I would bolt. He didn't lecture like Morelli would have. Didn't shout or swear or frown. He just got very quiet.

Usually, the silence between us is easy. Comfortable even. This time it was not.

I crossed my arms, daring him to insist I apologize for ignoring his advice. He just kept driving.

"I was trying to do my job," I finally said.

"I'm not arguing that."

"Then what's your problem?"

His eyes were still hidden behind his sunglasses, fixed on the road ahead, but I could feel his annoyance. "My problem is that you let your anger at me cloud your judgment."

"I'm not angry at you and my judgment isn't clouded. I saw an opportunity and I took it. Simple as that."

"After I told you why it wasn't a good idea."

"I could have ID'd him."

"And what would that get us? There are less intrusive ways to confirm his identity. What you wanted to do was risky with a high possibility of failure and you tried to go through with it anyway because I told you not to. Power plays between us are usually about your independence, not the job."

Of course, I knew he was right. That didn't mean I liked it any better. In all honesty, I'm not sure why I let myself get so worked up over something so trivial. Usually when I'm with Ranger, I'm happy to follow his lead. He's the primo bounty hunter. I'm the sidekick. There's a clear command structure when we're working together. It absolves me of responsibility, and I feel safe and protected.

Well. As safe as I can feel, sleeping with a man like Ranger with no strings attached. And that was probably the greater issue in all of this. If we captured The Rug sooner rather than later, Ranger would have to cart him back to Trenton. And I wouldn't have to face the choice between indulging in the guilty pleasure while I can, and protecting myself from the inevitable.

"I know what I'm doing," I said, more as an affirmation to myself than anything.

Ranger glanced at me with a stern expression before he turned back to the road. "So do I."

That was the understatement of the year. Ranger had been doing this job a lot longer than I had, with a level of skill and innate talent I could only dream of. Ranger had made a very good living hunting people. It's one of the things he does best. I could do this job for a hundred years and I'd still never be as good as he is. Former Special Forces. Soldier for hire once he'd retired. Successful businessman. And then there was me. Still living alone with my hamster in my outdated apartment, struggling to make ends meet.

Ranger might only be two months older than me, but he was light-years ahead when it came to life experience and maturity. Ranger was a full grown adult. Maybe an adult and a third.

I slumped back in my seat. "It wasn't that risky."

"Tell that to the foot long gash in your side," he said, cutting a brief glance in my direction.

Ranger pulled into a parking spot near a little shopping center in Honolulu and shut the car off. He looked me over. "You're going to need some new clothes. If I try to take you anywhere covered in that much blood we're going to attract attention. There's an ABC store on the corner that should have something passable."

"Or I could go up there and get something better than passable," I said, pointing at the building ahead of us. A boutique was on the second floor, by the Chinese buffet, accessible by the long wooden balconies that wrapped around it. Asphalt curved around the back of the shopping center like a giant ramp, leading up to the wooden stairs. Ranger gestured his indifference and angled out of the car.

He started around the back to open my door for me and I heard tires squealing from somewhere up the street. It took me a second to see the rusted out Ford Taurus barreling toward us. It blew through the intersection and lost control. My breath caught. My door yanked open and Ranger pulled me from my seat seconds before the Taurus smashed into the Cayman. The air shuttered against me with the quiver of twisted metal and broken glass. The Cayman's bumper nudged my shin when it was shoved up on the curb. One foot closer and I'd have been in bad shape.

Ranger set me on my feet and went to the Taurus' driver side door. Metal groaned when he wrenched it open. He rooted the driver out and slammed him into the side of the car. The driver was a guy in his mid twenties, his stringy blond hair falling across his overly surprised face. He was thin as a rail and twitchy. Obviously high on something. Ranger threw him to the ground and cuffed him in seconds.

Smoke was oozing out from under the Taurus. He ordered me back and dragged the guy up by the cuffs. He tossed him onto the curb just as flames started licking up from the undercarriage. The paint blackened while it burned and it was getting hard to tell where the Taurus ended and the once sexy Cayman began.

Ranger stood staring at the carnage, hands on hips. I came up beside him. "Bummer."

"Yeah."

Sirens grew in the distance. We both looked up at them, and then turned back to the flames.

"You go on ahead," Ranger said to me. "This might take a while to sort out. I'll catch up to you when I'm through here."

"You sure?"

Ranger nodded. I didn't need any more encouragement than that. I backed away from the swelling heat and burning metal and beat a quick retreat.

A crowd of people had congregated to watch the cars burn. Blue and white Honolulu Police cars pulled up before the fire engine and EMTs. Uniforms set to work securing the scene and making sure people were a safe distance from the wreckage. I stood at the foot of the two story shopping center for a few minutes before I started for the stairs.

The asphalt ramp was steeper than it looked. I was starting to second guess my plan. My eyes were on my flip flops so I wouldn't do a Jack and Jill and break my crown tumbling back down the hill again. It wasn't until I heard someone start to shout that I looked up.

A dumpster was rolling down the parking lot toward the edge of the incline, a Chinese buffet employee chasing after it, trying desperately to stop its progress with no hope of success.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

The thing was picking up speed. And it was heading right for me. My mind went blank. This wasn't happening. There was no logical way a dumpster could have slipped from its mooring. Let alone roll away on rusted, rickety wheels. It had to be a figment of my insane imagination. The dumpster was getting larger by the second and just before I could lose it an arm looped around my waist and whipped me out of the way. I heard some creative swearing, but I was only half listening. The dumpster whooshed past us like a freight train and split the crowd below in a chorus of surprised screams. Metal struck metal and the smell of burning garbage drifted out on the air.

I looked over at Ranger and was shocked to see the big wall of Hawaiian muscle standing next to me instead. Noah the local PI. He was shaking his head in disbelief. "Ranger wasn't kidding. Anything really is possible around you."

I could only stare at him. "What?"

"I'm just saying. Not five minutes ago you were nearly crushed by a random meth head, and now you're almost taken out by a runaway dumpster? When he first told me you were here, he made it sound like you might be in danger. I was sure he was just being an overprotective boyfriend, but now I'm thinking that was the soft sell. Seems the whole universe is out to get you, babycakes."

I couldn't decide what to get indignant about first. "What the hell are you doing here?"

He looked at me like I was slow. "My job. Ranger asked me to protect you."

"You're still following me?"

"Only when you're away from the resort."

"I don't need to be protected."

"Says the woman who was nearly flattened twice."

"And what makes you think Ranger is my boyfriend?"

Noah looked at me over his sunglasses, a casual smirk on his face. "He contacts me and says his associate is in town and needs a covert tail until he can get here, tells me 'don't let anything happen to her.' And then he texts me the photo of a pretty brunette. It wasn't a hard connection to make. Rico figured you were either his girlfriend or a close relative. The greeting he gave you at the airport ruled out relative."

"I'm not his girlfriend."

Noah's eyes found the three carat diamond sparkling on my finger. "Sorry. Fiancée. Congratulations, by the way." I tried to object, but Noah's attention was dragged to his chirping cell phone. He read the message, tapped the phone a couple times and then turned toward the ramp. "Heading up, right?"

I didn't get a chance to set him straight. All I could do was follow him to the stairs and up to the second floor. He stood by the door at parade rest while I wandered around the store picking out new clothes. The girl who worked there was uneasy. Not sure if it was the blood or the scary looking bodyguard at the door. Probably a combination of the two.

Ranger came in when I was finishing up. There was a quick exchange between him and Noah and then Noah left. Ranger handed the shop attendant his credit card. "Find everything you need?"

"Yes. What happened with the car?"

"It's not so much a car anymore as it is a scrap metal sculpture."

"That's too bad. It was sexy."

The corner of Ranger's mouth lifted. "Sexier than the 911?"

"It was up there."

He smiled. I could tell he was remembering just how sexy I found the 911. "Why don't you get changed and we'll grab some lunch."

I took my new clothes back to the changing room and slipped into them. The cut in my side still stung a little, but it wasn't bad. At least it had stopped bleeding. I replaced the red bikini with some black lace underwear and covered it was a stretchy blue dress. I'd always looked pretty good in blue. It brought out the color in my eyes.

Ranger looked me over when I came back out. "Sexy."

"You like the dress?"

"The dress is nice too," he said, gesturing toward the door. He kept a hand at my waist all the way down the stairs. When we got to the bottom, I saw a pristine black Porsche 911 Turbo parked in a spot by the planter boxes.

"What's this?"

"Plan B."

"How did you get a new one so fast?"

"I had Rico drive it over. He'd planned for another Cayman, but you said you liked the 911."

"You telling me you had a second car on standby?"

"Babe, you go through cars like most people go through shirts. They've caught fire, been exploded by rockets, and one was even flattened by a garbage truck."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Of course it wasn't. But that doesn't change the fact that I've lost more cars to you than all my men combined. Times five. Seemed like a smart move to plan for the inevitable."

"That's really funny. You're hilarious."

He grinned.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

We got lunch at a little place near Waikiki beach that served comfort food. By the time I finished my teriyaki cheeseburger and sweet potato tots, I was pretty full. There was a good possibility that if I'd tried to eat any more, Ranger might have had to roll me back to the car. We decided to take a leisurely stroll down the beach for a while to burn off some of the calories. The waves were calm and low, hardly disturbing the surface. They caught the afternoon light when they crested, whispering over each other before they spread themselves across the sand. It was very Zen.

On the way back to the 911, I saw the cutest little ice cream shop. It was pink and white, with striped awnings and overblown flowers all around it. Like a painting from a children's book. I pointed it out to Ranger. He was amused when he looked from the shop to me. "Are you saying you want ice cream?"

That hadn't been my intention, but now that he mentioned it. "I don't _not_ want ice cream."

Ranger almost smiled.

The bell rang over the door. The shop was just as cute on the inside. There were little white bistro tables on the pink and white checkered floor tiles, and the dipping cabinet was covered in a pale faux wood finish. A sweet faced woman in her fifties was behind the counter. I started looking over the flavors while Ranger hung back to check the messages on his phone. I had a cone of salted caramel in hand when he put the phone into his pocket again. "Got a hit. Terron made reservations for the resort's beach front restaurant tonight at six. I booked us a table."

I glanced at my watch. "That's cutting it a little close. I still have to get ready."

"You'll have to get ready before we head back. We're going straight to the restaurant."

"But I need to take a shower. I've been swimming in the ocean. My hair's all salty and gross."

"Babe, if we go back to the cottage so you can take a shower, I have no intention of letting you get dressed again."

Oh boy.

I decided it was better to improvise. My purse didn't have much in a way of beauty supplies, but I guess it could have been worse. At least it hadn't gone up in smoke with the Cayman. I finished my ice cream and went into the bathroom to try and freshen up. All I had was a little eye liner, mascara, and some aloe vera gel. I wet my hair, hoping to get at least some of the salt out, and scrunched a little aloe into it. It wasn't going to give me hold like hair gel, but at least the curls would be soft. I scrubbed my face and gussied up my eyes. Not bad. Beach bum to sex goddess in three easy steps. And with next to nothing, too. I even impressed myself.

Ranger was on the phone when I came back. He was watching me in an absent way, but his eyes were drifting down my body like I still had his full attention. And then he smiled. He disconnected and slipped an arm around my waist. "Ready to go?"

"Sure. What was that about?"

"Rico was just giving me an update on the driver of the Taurus. They've cleared him for injuries at the hospital. He's being booked for driving under the influence and reckless endangerment."

"Is that what the smile was about?"

"No. The smile was because Rico made a crack about the dumpster."

"It wasn't my fault."

"It never is."

"Noah thinks we're engaged, by the way."

"I got that impression."

"And?"

"He wished me luck and said 'I hope you know what you're getting into.'"

"Everyone's a comedian."

The beach front restaurant was so close to the water that it didn't so much have a dining room as it had an elaborate, open air canopy. You'd think that the fact the floor was sand would lend itself to a clientele right off the beach, but just from looking around at the other diners I was getting the impression that there was a stricter dress code than that. No one sat around in their bathing suits. Not a single pair of blue jeans in sight. It was the kind of restaurant where women wore pearls.

Ranger spoke to the hostess for a moment while I looked around. It was going to be hard to find a wall he could put his back to here. Three out of four walls were nothing more than flowing muslin and canvass curtains, drawn toward their wooden posts to give a glimpse of the ocean. The exception was the wall to the kitchen. After a minute, the hostess brought us to a table right next to the kitchen door.

I wasn't really listening while Ranger ordered. I was too busy watching the entrances, waiting for The Rug. The waitress wandered away and Ranger's hand covered mine.

"He's not going to show any faster just because you stare."

"I don't want to miss him."

"We won't. Trust me. Even if he doesn't wear that god-awful shirt."

"I thought it was kind of classy."

"Babe."

I gave him an innocent smile and he responded with an imperceptible shake of his head.

We watched the room for a while. Lots of couples flowed in and out, but there wasn't a hint of orange or lime green. I was watching faces carefully. I hadn't seen anyone yet that was even close. The waitress brought our plates and I was surprised to see a little brick oven pizza in front of me. Does he know me, or what?

I finished my pizza and looked down at my watch. "It's almost seven. Think they're a no show?"

"It's possible."

Story of my life. They always show up when you're not looking for them. I blew out a sigh and started thinking about dessert.

On the far side of the room from us, a man stood and lifted a lightweight cream-colored straw fedora onto his dark hair. He was wearing a nice looking cream shirt with a tasteful pattern of leaves and sand. He settled the hat and slipped his wallet back into his pocket. His back was still to me. I waited for a second, hoping that he'd turn around. Then he stepped away from me toward the exit.

I pushed my chair back from the table. If I was quick, I could catch a discrete glimpse on my way to the bathroom. "I'll be right back," I said to Ranger and stepped into the lane of traffic.

It all happened at once. The man next to me pushed back from his table too and I moved to get out of his way just as a waiter with a laden tray shoved through the kitchen door behind me. We all went down in a tangle of arms and legs and broken dishes. There was spaghetti in my hair, hot soup trickling down my back, and what I could only guess was chocolate cake smashed into my cleavage.

Ranger was laughing so hard that it took him a moment to scoop me out of the pile and put me on my feet. "Babe. You're an accident waiting to happen today."

Every eye in the place had turned to look at the carnage. This wasn't the first time I'd ended up covered in food. Far from it. I've rolled in garbage so many times that in all honesty I've lost count. That fact didn't soften the blow. Tears started welling in my eyes against my will. Ranger took the cloth napkin off the table and cleaned off the worst of it before he pulled me to him. "You're okay. You've had worse."

"You would think that would make it easier, but it doesn't. I'm a disaster!"

Ranger chuckled. "Only a little bit." He wiped the tears from my eyes, but it didn't help. More started falling. He held me against him and let me cry, sheltering me from the onlookers with his body. "It's alright. It's just a little spaghetti. We'll take you home and scrub you down and you'll be good as new," he said. He looked me over and kissed the top of my head. "Maybe not the dress."

The sinking feeling got worse. I looked down at the chocolate stains across my breasts and lost it. This was the second dress in as many days that I had ruined. "You just bought this dress," I bawled.

Ranger only smiled. "It's just a dress, Babe. I'll buy you another one." My lip trembled and he leaned down to kiss it. He handed our waiter his credit card and the man scurried away to ring up our check as fast as he could, all apologies. By the time Ranger had calmed me down and retrieved my purse, we were all set to go. He slung an arm around my neck and guided me out, ignoring the way the other diners were staring.

"Do I look that bad?" I asked him.

"No worse than you'd expect. But I do admit I'm starting to get a craving for chocolate cake."

Ranger pushed the cottage door open and flicked on the light. He let me shuffle in past him with a smile on his face before he shut the door and locked it behind us. I'd stopped dripping halfway through the walk home. Now the back of my dress was stiffening. Not comfortable. Ranger turned on the tap in the shower and stepped into the bedroom to put his gun on the bedside table. He froze in the doorway.

"What is it?" I asked him. I peered around his shoulder, but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then I felt it. Something was off. "Someone has been in here."

Ranger stalked into the room. The zippers on my suitcase were open a few extra inches. Ranger's bag was a good foot from where it had been when I'd gone to change into my bikini this morning. His dresser drawer wasn't closed all the way either. I knew that he hadn't left any of his gear lying around the cottage, but his nylon webbed utility belt would still be in that drawer.

"Think it was maid service?" I asked hopefully. I already knew the answer.

"Maid service doesn't go through your belongings. Someone searched our room."

Or eyes held. We were both thinking the same thing. And it made me just a little queasy.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"You don't think…" I said. I couldn't finish. Didn't need to anyway. Ranger understood.

"I don't see how he'd know we were here, let alone where we were staying."

"You really think The Rug searched our room? What would he be looking for?"

"Same thing we were when we searched his. Identification."

"Do you think we blew our cover?" And by we and meant I. Like when I made an idiot of myself at Hanauma Bay. I could kick me right about now.

Ranger studied the room again while he thought it over. "I doubt it. I don't leave a lot behind when we go out. Nothing incriminating. And the place wasn't tossed. This was a methodical search. Not meant to be noticed. If it was really The Rug, and he was suspicious, he'd have done something more obvious. Leave a calling card to scare us off, or lay in wait for us to return. It's more his style."

I gulped. An involuntary response, really. It's not like I was scared or anything. I mean, I'm a big bad bounty hunter. I eat danger for breakfast.

Yeah right.

Truth be told, when things get scary I usually cut and run. You know what they say about he who fights and runs away. He doesn't end up with holes in his head. I looked at Ranger. Not an ounce of tension. Ranger wasn't scared. Ranger really did eat danger for breakfast. I drew in a breath and hoped I didn't sound afraid. "So what do we do now?"

"Not much _to_ do. We'll just have to be more vigilant. Make a plan to take him down sooner than expected. Preferably when he's not likely to be armed."

"Like on his way into the airport? Or at the beach?"

"Babe, I'm armed at the beach. Chances are good he is too."

"How are you not freaked out about this?"

"It wouldn't be a productive use of my energies. Besides. All we know for certain is that someone looked through our things. We don't have any proof it was The Rug."

"Oh good. Glad we cleared that up."

Ranger thought about smiling. He kissed me just above my ear. "Take a shower. Let me worry about this."

I was still uneasy when I went into the bathroom. Ranger didn't offer to help me this time. He was busy making calls. I was more grateful than disappointed about that. I still hadn't decided what to do about Ranger. And after a day like today all I wanted to do was melt off the dried soup under the scalding water and forget all this ever happened.

I stood under the stream for a long time waiting for the world to seem right again. Scrubbed very inch of my body. Twice. When I was satisfied that I no longer smelled like marinara I shut off the tap and reached for a towel. I wrapped myself in a fluffy hotel robe.

Ranger was setting his phone on the bedside table next to his ring and his gun when I came out of the bathroom. His back was to me. "I've got Silvio working on getting access to the hotel's security feed. I saw some cameras hidden in the foliage near the arbors. Might be able to identify the intruder. Or at the very least put a man on the monitor to make sure it doesn't happen again."

"If you say so."

He turned to look at me, his eyes scanning me from head to toe. The robe covered me pretty well, but I don't think that mattered. He knew every inch that what was under it in intimate detail. He took a step toward me, intent plain in his eyes, and I knew I had to make a decision quickly.

"I've been thinking," I tried to say. Ranger made no response. His eyes were focused on the tie on my robe, dilated completely black. He was stalking toward me and my pulse jumped. "Are you listening to me?"

"Not even a little bit," he said. He backed me against the wall and kissed me. It went right to my head and shot through my center. Parts of me sizzled. The tie on the robe loosened. If I didn't hold fast, I'd fall over the edge and there'd be no turning back.

"Wait," I managed. It was little more than a whisper. Almost no sound at all. He must have heard it, though, because he slowed. His hands were caressing my stomach inside the robe, working their way north. His lips still brushing mine. All anticipation.

"What am I waiting for?"

I forgot for just a second. Then his thumbs grazed my breasts and a smooth heat shot through me, laced with panic and good old fashioned catholic guilt. It brought back some of my senses. "I'm having trouble with this," I admitted.

He finally stopped. "With what?"

"With this. Whatever this is. I'm not good at it. I know you can compartmentalize and do emotional distance, but I can't. I'm not built that way. So I'm having trouble with the whole fun now no future thing, and it's messing with my head."

Ranger moved a few more inches away so that he could look at me. He drew in an even breath. "And?"

"And I need a minute."

Ranger didn't frown or anything, but he might as well have. He stepped back and I retied the robe. I was cursing my stupid conscience. Why did I have to be such a girl? Why couldn't I just enjoy Ranger while I had the chance? Take the magic and the fire in stride and not worry about what might happen later?

Of course I knew why. My heart just wasn't strong enough for that. It's not that I wanted to get married right now. That was too mature a step for where I was in my life. But I liked to know it was a possibility. As fun as Ranger was, it was terrifying to think I might get attached to something with no chance of permanence.

"I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted," I finally said.

"What about the minute?"

"I'll deal with the minute tomorrow."

Ranger's eyes stayed on me as I wandered into the room and fished black panties and an old t-shirt out of my bag. He didn't press the issue. Didn't ask any questions. He let me keep my thoughts to myself.

* * *

The scent of coffee dragged me out of sleep the next morning. I cracked one eye open. A white mug was sitting on my bedside table, curls of steam rising from it in lazy drifts.

Ranger wasn't in the bed with me.

I sat up and looked around the cottage. Cool, even breaths were moving in an easy rhythm in the living room, full of control and determination. I leaned across the bed to look through the open doorway. Ranger was doing pushups. I don't know how many he'd done, but his bare chest was dripping with sweat. If I worked out that hard I'd probably need a respirator.

Sometimes I'm not a hundred percent sure Ranger is human.

He pulled his legs under him and stood in one easy motion, snatching up a hand towel from the coffee table. He wiped the sweat off his face and looked my way. Didn't seem overly surprised to find me staring. "I called in for some breakfast. Should be here soon."

"Great." I sat back against the headboard when he came into the room. Picked up the coffee he'd left for me so I wouldn't focus too much on his body. Didn't help that much. Ranger had the kind of body that attracted attention. His broad mocha chest was glistening, the shine running down his abs into the waist of his sweat pants where they hung low on his hips. Most of his skin was smooth. Perfect. He had a few scars, though. Evidence of a dangerous life lived in the shadows.

I looked down into my cup. "Don't you usually go to the gym?"

Ranger looked like he might have been amused, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I didn't think it was smart to leave you here asleep and unprotected when we don't know who broke in last night."

"You don't think they'd try something, do you?"

"Let's just say I've learned to be cautious." He looked me over and his eyes warmed a little. "It would probably be best if we laid low today. Let our problem get complacent again."

"And how do we lay low?"

His eyes warmed even more. He didn't bother hiding the suggestion when they skated down my body. "Well. We could either find a little out of the way spot to spend most of the day. Or we could stay in."

Obviously, staying in wouldn't require a lot of clothes. If I wasn't so unsure, that would have sounded like a great idea. Trouble was, I wasn't ready to throw myself full tilt into an affair with Ranger. There were still too many things that were unresolved.

Ranger seemed to read my thoughts. He let out a breath and walked to my suitcase, shifting through its contents until he found my black bikini. He tossed it on the bed with a black tank top and my new purple and black sarong. "Guess you still need that minute."

"I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize, Babe. But you might want to work out whatever issue you're dealing with. I can be a good guy, but even I have my limits."

I swallowed when Ranger went into the bathroom and started the shower. The idea of Ranger's limits was terrifying in an exhilarating sort of way. It made my stomach squishy and my nipples get hard. I knew Ranger would never push me. He never had. But deep down, Ranger was a creature of instinct. All testosterone and sex drive. He had control is spades, but sometimes when his eyes turned dark it was easy to see how hard won it was. A skill he'd had to learn. In my experience, the people with the most control are the ones who had to fight the strongest demons.

I had a feeling that at the end of Ranger's limits would be an experience in seduction beyond my wildest dreams.

I listened to the rush of the pipes in the shower while I considered my options. In the end, I chickened out and got dressed in the clothes Ranger had tossed on the bed.

Breakfast came before Ranger had finished in the shower. I was buttering a piece of toast when he came out, fully dressed in a black t-shirt and board shorts. "So, where are we going today?" I asked while he helped himself to some of the omelet. He didn't answer. He just looked at me with one of his tempting half smiles.

It took a while to drive to the north side of the island. We'd followed the shore all the way around, watching the scenery change from expansive city to dense jungle. I didn't know where we were going. Not until Ranger parked the 911 near a trailhead that wound into the trees. I looked down at my flip flops. "We're not going in there, are we?"

"That was the plan."

"It's not far is it?"

"Couple miles." He opened his car door and stepped out. I had to scramble after him.

"But I can't walk that far in the jungle in flip flops."

Ranger popped the trunk and handed me a pair of hiking boots in my size. I was so shocked I gaped at him. He put a pair of socks on top. "They should already be broken in."

"Were those in the trunk this whole time?"

Ranger only smiled in answer.

"Okay. Tell me the truth. Is Noah actually magic?"

"Noah's innovative, and he's good with a lock. Any skills beyond that are outside of my realm of expertise."

"So yes."

Ranger's eyes crinkled at the edges as he slung an arm around my neck, kissing my ear. "I've got a few things I could show you if you want to see magic."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

We walked through the jungle for what felt like an hour. The path was well defined, if a little narrow. There were parts where the trees grew right up onto it, roots and branches changing the way. Ranger caught my hand when I faltered on the uneven ground. I could feel the ring press into his palm before he slipped my hand easily into his and led me on.

I heard a rush of water. Then we walked through a break in the trees. A cool, clear pool was nestled into the side of a hill under a beautiful waterfall. The already humid air felt thicker and cleaner, the trees crowded around us. Like the little chunk of paradise was on a separate plane from the rest of the world.

"Can we swim in it?" I asked him.

"If you want."

I turned enough to look at him over my shoulder. "You're not gonna make me go in the water all by myself again, are you? I mean, you've probably seen a waterfall before, right?"

I knew being a little flirty wasn't the smartest idea, but I just couldn't help it. Something about Ranger brought it out in me. The predatory look he gave me made me second guess myself. Then he took the hem of his t-shirt in both hands and pulled it off over his head, the corners of his mouth lifting just a little. He took the Glock from the small of his back to set it on the rocks, dropping the shirt on top of it. I could still see the clip of his folded tactical knife sticking over his waistband.

He didn't make any indication whether it might be cold or not when he waded into the water. I was a little hesitant when he offered me a hand. This could go either really well or really badly, depending on your perspective. Something I'm sure he realized.

I untied the knot on my wrap and dropped it onto Ranger's discarded shirt. It floated down into a little purple and black pile. His eyes were on me when I pulled off the tank top too. "There isn't anything in that water that's likely to bite me, is there?"

The smile he gave me was more answer than I wanted.

I looked at his outstretched hand. I knew if I took it, I'd be in his arms in seconds. I won't lie. Part of me wanted that. A couple parts of me actually. I took a sidestep and my foot slid under me on the wet rocks, hurling me head over heels into the water. When I came up to the surface again, Ranger was watching me with amusement. The water wasn't cold, but a shiver went through me anyway. He caught my hand and pulled me toward him and a little shock went through me.

I splashed away and swam toward the waterfall. Ranger didn't mind that I was running from him. Ranger liked the thrill of the chase. There was a reason he was such a good bounty hunter. Stalking his prey was part of the fun.

"So how long do you figure we have to lay low," I asked, hoping to distract him.

"Hard to say."

"Because there's supposed to be a luau tonight on the beach behind the resort. I saw it on the schedule. It might be our best bet to see The Rug. Might even be able to take him down without too much trouble."

"It's something to think about," he said, still inching toward me. I moved away again.

"Did Silvio get access to the hotel cameras?"

"Not yet. It's a wired closed circuit feed. He's having trouble finding a signal. Could be the system's not accessible remotely."

"When was the last time you heard from him?"

"This morning." Ranger looked like he might smile. "Am I making you nervous again? I thought we were passed that."

"We are. Mostly. It's just that you brought me out to this romantic spot, and we're all alone swimming under this great waterfall, and you looking at me like that."

"Like what?" he said, moving toward me again. I found my back against the side of the pool near our discarded clothes. Ranger moved into me, his warm chest brushing mine under the water.

"Like that," I said, my voice little more than a whisper. "I'm still having issues, remember?"

The smile pulled at his mouth as he lowered it to mine. "Oh, I remember."

And then he kissed me. It was a gentle kiss. Slow and thoughtful. And sexy. I think I might have moaned a little because the next thing I knew his hands were on my sides, holding me against him. It was hard not to kiss him back. He pressed me to the rock when my arms moved around his neck and then I felt his hand slip into my bikini top to touch my bare skin.

Ranger paused. I hadn't noticed right away. Not until I heard his safety click off and realized he'd reached his other hand into the pile of clothes to his gun. It took me a minute to hear the rustling in the underbrush. Someone was coming. Ranger drew away a couple of inches. Enough that I was able to turn and look over my shoulder into the trees.

A little five-year-old boy walked out on the path and Ranger's hand relaxed on his gun. The boy was followed by an eight-year-old girl with light brown braids and a pair of harried looking parents. They were a little shocked and embarrassed when they saw us in the water, still standing close enough together that it was only too obvious what we'd been doing.

"Guess it's time to go," Ranger whispered in my ear. He gave me a quick kiss and hauled himself effortlessly out of the pool. He offered me and hand and lifted me out too. I put the wrap around myself and pulled on my tank top. Ranger didn't get dressed. He kept this t-shirt in hand, wrapped around his gun until we were a safe distance into the woods again.

"That was a shorter outing than I thought it would be," I said, watching him tuck his Glock into the back of his shorts again before he pulled his shirt on. I caught the hint of a smile.

"Saved by the five-year-old."

My stomach fluttered. There was just a little too much truth in that. Ranger was a hard guy to resist. Especially in close. I knew for a fact that if we hadn't been interrupted, it probably wouldn't have taken him long to talk me into just about anything. "So, where to next? We could head to a beach." A nice, public beach.

Ranger grinned. "Are you afraid to be alone with me?"

"No." Yes. Although, afraid was the wrong word. I wasn't nearly as afraid as I was combustible.

He stalked toward me. "I can control myself if you can."

"Great. Pretty sure we both know how that'll go."

A touch of wolf lit his grin and my insides turned squishy. I kept my eyes on Ranger and took a step back on the uneven ground. My boot caught in the roots. A strange hand closed over my shoulder from behind and I was hit with a stab of fear. I whipped around and saw my fist land square between the eyes of a Latino guy I didn't know. His head snapped back with the blow. I covered my mouth and gasped. "I'm sorry!"

The guy didn't answer right away. He staggered, holding his face, swearing a little in Spanish. Ranger's warm hand settled at the base of my neck when he moved in against my back. I could feel him laughing. "Steph, this is Noah's partner, Rico."

"Omigod, I'm so sorry! Jeez, this is embarrassing."

"Only for me," Rico said, rubbing between his eyes. He wasn't much taller than I was. Maybe 5'8". He wasn't quite as thick as the usual Rangeman guy. Most of Ranger's Merry Men were huge. Built tall and strong with very little neck. Rico wasn't skinny by any stretch, but he was more average than Noah or Tank. He wasn't in Rangeman black, either. His shirt was blue and white, with a pattern of palms and flowers that went around the hem, his collar hanging open to show his chest. He looked me over and said something in Spanish that made Ranger laugh before he added "Man, your girl's got a mean jab."

"You should see her take down an FTA."

"Oh yeah? Bounty hunter, huh? Guess that makes sense. And if the jab doesn't stop 'em, you could always just wait for the dumpster, right?"

"See, now I'm not sorry that I hit you anymore," I told him. Rico laughed. "Is there a reason you're here?"

"Yeah. I had to check in and make sure everything was good before I head back. Noah's supposed to be getting dirt on this scumbag called Jim Cutter, but the scumbag came back early. He needs a diversion." A grin pulled up one corner of his mouth when he looked at me. "Unless your betty wants to help out. I bet things would go smoother with her on board, if she's got experience."

I felt Ranger shrug. "It's your call, Babe."

I considered it for a second. It wasn't like it would be new for me. I did the decoy thing for Ranger all the time. And it would give me an excuse to delay another encounter with Ranger. If we ended up alone again, I couldn't guarantee I'd have the self control to put on the brakes a second time. On the other hand, playing the decoy didn't always go as simple as it sounded. People can be unpredictable.

This could turn out to be another one of those moments where Ranger's faith in me might be a little ambitious. "What kind of dirt are you supposed to be getting?"

"Evidence. Seems this guys been embezzling from the bar he owns with his partner. And it's been suggested that he spends it on blow and hookers."

"Were you hired by the partner?"

"No. The wife. She's hoping what we find is enough to put him away so he can't hit her anymore," Rico said.

That got me. It takes a special kind of asshole to knock around the woman he'd promised to love and protect. I've tracked my fair share of them, and I've found there's an extra satisfaction to taking down a man who'd abuse his wife or children.

Rico must have read it on my face because his smile widened. "Does that mean you're in?"

"Yeah. I'm in."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The little dive bar was dark and depressing, even under the bright sunlight. It looked like the kind of place where dreams went to die. Ranger pulled the 911 into a space in front of a taco shop two stores down. "Rico and I will hang back. Give you some breathing room to do your thing. Then we'll slip in once you've got him distracted. Noah will be in the office in back. You just have to keep Martin occupied. If you can get him to leave, that's even better."

"Piece of cake." I pulled on my tank top until the edge of my bikini peeked out. Adjusted until the girls were half exposed. I didn't have impressive cleavage, but I figured flashing a little boob was better than nothing. I fluffed my still drying curls. "How's that?"

"Makes me wish we were back at the waterfall," he said.

The last thing I did was pull the wedding ring off my finger and set it in his hand. I went to get out of the car and he stopped me.

"Wait," he said. Then he stuck his hand in my bikini, adjusting my breasts a little more. By the time he was done, I was sorry we weren't back at the waterfall too.

"Is that better?" I asked him, a little breathless.

"It was fine before. That was for me."

I rolled my eyes at him so hard I made myself dizzy and climbed out the car.

The inside was even more depressing than the outside. Sunlight had trouble filtering in through the one grimy colored-glass window, making the flickering, half burned out florescent tubes overhead the only source of light.

Only one person seemed to be in the room. He was thicker, like he'd had a nice body once but had punished it with so many years of neglect and abuse that it sagged. What was left of his hair was that vague, dirty non-color that most people called brown, thinning in the back until his scalp showed through. He was on a bar stool, slumped over the counter, his hand around a bottle of amber liquid.

It's an ambitious drinker that's already three sheets before noon.

His entire body cringed when sunlight poured in through the open doorway around me. He waited until the door swung shut before he turned to look. "We're not open for another hour."

"Really? That sucks. I could use a drink."

Jim Cutter studied me through red rimmed eyes. They were a little sharper than I'd been expecting. Not quite as drunk as I'd thought. Either that or he was used to being marinated. Maybe it was normal for him. His eyes landed on my boobs and lingered there before he moved down the rest of my body, taking in the long slit my sarong left over my thigh. A sly smile lifted one corner of his mouth and he reached for another shot glass. "Well. We wouldn't want a pretty lady like you to go without."

He poured out two shots of amber and slid one a few inches down so I'd have to take the seat next to him. He turned the rest of his body to face me. If I took that seat, he'd be able to watch the door behind me. He'd see it when Ranger and Rico came in. I scanned the room. The office door was on the other side. If I took the seat on his left, Noah wouldn't be able to slip out when he was done. That left one option.

Cutter kept a close watch on me while I walked behind the bar and helped myself to a beer glass. He wouldn't be able to watch either door as long as I kept his attention focused my way. I poured out a draft beer from the tap and set it up on the counter in front of him, leaning over the bar so that my boobs hung out of my top even more. "You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all," he said, looking down my cleavage.

"Oh good, because I could really use a beer. I've had a hell of a day, and it's not even half over."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. The guy who started the myth of the perfect dream vacation should be shot."

Cutter laughed in a greasy sort of way and nudged the shot glass toward me again. "That sounds like it needs something a little stronger than beer."

"Maybe. What about you? What's got you in the bottle this early. You're day must've been even worse than mine."

"Not any worse than every other day."

Daylight peeked into the dark room from the front door and Cutter looked like he might turn for a second. I leaned forward and touched his arm, my chest brushing his knuckles. "Tell me about it."

I had his attention again. "Better yet," he said, wiggling his fingers against my breast, "I could give you something better than booze."

I moved back, trying not to look rattled. I was the honey trap, after all. The honey trap didn't get flustered just because some low life copped a feel. I offered him a strained smile. "There's not a lot that's better than booze."

Jim Cutter rose to his feet with a grin like a crocodile and strolled around to the back of the bar on unsteady feet. I wanted to look around to see if Ranger or Rico, or even Noah, were in the room, but I didn't dare take my eyes off of Cutter. I took an involuntary step back and butted into the register. He grasped my elbow when he reached me, holding me just a little tighter than was comfortable. "Come on. A pretty girl like you. I'm sure you've had lots that's better than booze."

"Maybe. But I'm not the kind of girl to have it a public bar. Even one that's not open for another hour." I was down to bravado. The grip around my arm was tightening and it was taking some determination not to let the fear it was causing show in my eyes. Show fear to someone like that and you lose power you'll never get back. "I have to say, though, a shot is starting to sound pretty good."

He smiled. It wasn't pleasant. "Just wait."

And then he snatched the rest of me and dragged me up against his body. I shoved him away and he slapped me across the face. I heard some noise behind me, but before I could really register what was happening my knee launched up into Cutter's center, shoving his testicles somewhere in the vicinity of his throat. He grunted and stumbled toward me and I slipped out of his path so he couldn't flatten me with his greasy body. I got all but one foot out of the way. Cutter tripped. I tried to catch the back of his shirt, but he smacked face first into the bar anyway and flopped back, landing spread eagle on the dirty tile.

Ranger was the first one to the bar. He peered over the Formica counter top at the unconscious man at my feet and then looked up at me. "Babe."

I could only shrug. "He wasn't being a gentleman."

Ranger's face lit up with all two hundred watts.

Rico came to his side and looked over the bar. "Damn. I'm glad I just got a sucker punch. You're a dangerous woman."

"It was mostly an accident."

Rico shook his head. "I'd hate to see what you'd do on purpose."

Ranger was already moving around the back of the bar. He brushed my hair back so he could examine the side of my face. It didn't feel very raw. Might have been a little pink. He kissed my cheek. "You alright?" I nodded. "Good. Because I might have had to kill him otherwise, and I don't have the connections here to make a body disappear."

I was pretty sure he was kidding. But then, you never really know with Ranger.

Ranger pulled cuffs from behind his back and restrained Cutter, then glanced at Rico. "Call it in. Have him booked on assault charges. They don't need to stick, but it should give you enough time to line up the rest of your evidence."

Rico nodded and headed back toward the office.

Ranger turned back to me and took my hand. He slipped the ring back onto my finger and lifted it to his lips. "I always do love seeing you in action."

"Morbid curiosity?"

"Major turn on."

Good to know. "So what happens now?"

"Now we hand him off to Noah and Rico and we head back to the resort."

"And then?"

Ranger smiled.

The office door opened and Noah walked out, Rico behind him. Noah looked at Cutter laying flat on the floor where Ranger had flipped him over, his hands cuffed behind his back. "You're right. Calamity Jane knocked him out cold." He looked up at me and winked. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

We drove in intimate silence on the way back to Honolulu, Ranger's hand resting on my bare leg through the opening in my sarong. His fingers were tracing soft lines along my inner thigh. Inching higher every few minutes. If he kept that up, I'd be in trouble. Worse still, I didn't have any intention of stopping him.

He cut his eyes to me as if he'd read my thoughts, a gentle smile pulling at his mouth. "So, are we heading home?" he asked, his fingers tracing higher still. It sent a warm tremor through my entire body.

I bit my lip. Self control has never been my strong suit. In fact, I lack control in pretty much every aspect of my life. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to pull off the road and climb on top of him. Even if I had to have my ass on the horn again. "Not yet. Maybe we should get some lunch first."

"And then?"

"You did promise to buy me a new dress."

"Do I get to help you try it on?"

"Maybe next time."

Ranger glanced at me before he turned his eyes to the road again. "This is a long minute."

No kidding. Might have been the longest minute of my life.

Turns out lunch had been a good idea on my part. It gave us a chance for our libidos to cool. By the time we found a little dress shop on a quiet street in the middle of Honolulu, I only _mostly_ wanted to jump Ranger in the dressing room.

I picked out a little sleeveless black dress with a low V neck and a flowing, light weight skirt. There were pretty blue and white flowers all over it. I even got a sexy pair of high stiletto heels to match. Ranger paid for them and we headed back to the resort.

I took my sweet time getting ready. Applied my makeup carefully and took the extra effort to pin up my curls. Didn't want to take the chance that things would escalate again. Because the hideous truth was, I liked being with Ranger. I liked the familiarity of living with him. Liked the closeness I felt when we were making love. And when he slid his ring back onto my finger, a part of me thrilled with all the possibilities that were never truly there.

I tried not to examine that too closely.

It was easy to delude myself this far removed from real life, surrounded by the fantasy of paradise. No matter how real it felt between us sometimes, I had to remember that this wasn't a honeymoon. There wasn't anything here that I would get to keep. It was just a moment we were passing through.

I wrapped myself in a robe and went in to where I'd laid my clothes out on the bed. Ranger came in from the kitchen, still adjusting the sleeve on his black suit coat. I doubted any of the other husbands would be dressed so formally. But then, none of them would need to cover a gun.

"I just need a few more minutes," I said, hoping he would nod and step out of the room. He didn't. I hesitated a moment before I slipped out of the robe.

It was a little awkward standing there naked in front of a fully dressed Ranger. I thought for sure that he would stalk toward me like he had last night, his brown eyes turning black with desire. But he didn't move from his spot. I chanced a look his way while I dressed and saw him leaning casually on the wall, his black eyes scanning me in a lazy, proprietary way.

If he was doing it to make me damp, he succeeded.

"Ready?" he asked when I finally stepped into my stilettos. I nodded.

I went to step past him to the living room, but Ranger caught me and pulled me against him. I think I stopped breathing for a second as he kissed me, because when he finally drew back an inch I felt a dizzy rush swirling around my head. I forced my fingers to unclench around his shirt collar.

Ranger pressed my purse into my hands and kissed me just once more. "Let's go ID us a hitman."

The beach was crowded when we got there, not just with tables and chairs and decorations, but with people. Seemed like most of the resort guests had shown up for the party. They were mingling around the tables and the open space in front of the newly erected stage. Hotel staff wove between them serving drinks. If I had to guess, this looked like a heavy drinking sort of crowd.

I got a Mai Tai and followed Ranger around the edge of the crush. There were tiki torches everywhere. Massive ice sculptures by the food tables. And at intervals around the borders, pretty women with raven hair were placing leis of orchids and plumeria around the necks of guests. One of the girls turned to me with a ring of white orchids and a Hawaiian greeting. The flowers were heavier than I thought they would be when they settled around my shoulders. They smelled wonderful. I thanked her and she turned to Ranger. He declined and led me on, his warm hand spread flat across my back. I smiled at him. "I just got leid."

Ranger shook his head a little. "Babe."

"What? Like I could come all the way to Hawaii and not make a getting leid joke. I'm pretty sure it's required by law." That made him smile. "Don't you want to get leid?"

His eyes held mine. "More than you could possibly imagine."

Yikes. Mental note. Don't play with Ranger.

I headed for the food tables. Most of the other guests were in their most festive clothes. Ranger and I were pretty bland by comparison. I wouldn't say it made me feel invisible. In fact, I saw more than a few eyes dart Ranger's way.

The woman in front of me was overly friendly. Short bleach blond hair cut into a bob, maybe late forties. She nudged my elbow. "Newlyweds, huh?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Are you kidding me, hun?" she said with a heavy southern drawl. She lowered her voice in confidence. "The way that husband of yours is watching you? That's a man who can't get enough of his woman. A man only looks at a woman like that when he's head over heels in love."

I thought that might have been oversimplifying a bit, but it didn't seem right to tell her that. She didn't seem to mind my lack of response, though. She just beamed at me.

"I love the all black, by the way," she said to Ranger. "Very Johnny Cash."

Ranger leaned into me when she wandered away. He was warm and solid against my back. "She didn't think I looked like a contract killer," he said in my ear.

"That's because she doesn't know you."

I felt him laugh.

We were near enough that I could smell the roast pig. My stomach growled and my mouth started to water. There were three buffet tables lined up in front of the central bar, ice sculptures standing on either end of each one. The one next to us was an eight foot tall tiki. The creases of his face glowed in the torchlight.

I caught a glimpse of Tootie Ruguzzi through the crush. She was heading our way. And right beside her was a man in a lightweight cream colored straw fedora. He was saying something to Tootie, and then he looked up. It was The Rug. And he was walking right toward us.

I felt Ranger's arm wrap around my waist and the next thing I knew, we were behind the ice tiki. I was pressed up against his chest, the ice radiating cold into the back of my neck. "What are you—" I tried to say, but he shushed me. Then I heard why. Someone else had come to stand just beyond the ice, away from the flowing crowds. They were whispering. Trying not to be overheard.

"I don't know why you have to bring that thing with us everywhere," Tootie said. "It's so unnecessary. Who are you going to need to shoot?"

"You were the one who said you were being followed."

"I said it felt like I was being followed. When I looked, it was just those newlyweds who can't keep their hands off each other."

Ranger's body was very warm compared to the ice at my back. His black coat had parted when he pulled me into him, nestling me close with nothing but the thin cotton of his dress shirt between us. My hands were flat on his ribs inside his jacket. His dark eyes holding mine.

Simon murmured something I couldn't quite hear. But Ranger didn't look like he was listening anymore. There was only one thing on his mind. And it wasn't The Rug. Whatever Simon said, Tootie scoffed. I heard it when she stormed away.

"I think they're gone," I breathed. Even in a whisper, my voice was unsteady. The air had gotten thick around us. Heavy with the mingled scents of orchids and pheromones and Bulgari Green mixed with Ranger. It felt incredible just to breath.

His eyes dropped down to my lips as he lowered his mouth toward mine. It was going to be a shattering kiss. I could already feel it. Every inch of my body was alert. Too aware of every inch of him that was pressed against me.

The ice was burning my back, soaking into my clothes as it melted. I tried to move away, not paying any attention to where I was going, and one of my stiletto heels sank into the grass. I stumbled and knocked right into the tiki torches. One of them flipped over and caught the tablecloth on fire. Shouts of confusion and alarm rolled through the crowd as people tried to put it out. A few tossed their drinks on it, but it only flared brighter.

I was suddenly very warm. Something bit my ass. God, I was on fire! Ranger snatched my hand out of the air and yanked me toward him, beating at my skirt with his suit coat. The second I was out he whisked me away, leaving the chaos behind us.

He half carried me back to our cottage so that I wouldn't slow him down. I was only vaguely aware of what he was doing. I was in shock. The second he set me on my feet in the living room I felt the back of my dress. There was very little of the lightweight skirt behind me. The bodice had survived better. It was still soaked with ice water. That had probably been what saved my skin.

"Does it hurt?" Ranger asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think I got burned."

Ranger pulled at the skirt and I felt the fabric rip halfway up my back. He looked me over with gentle fingers. "Could have been worse. I don't see any real damage."

"Except the dress."

Ranger laughed a little in concession. "Another one bites the dust."

"It's not funny."

Ranger smiled anyway, turning me to face him. "Babe. This is the second time today I thought you might be seriously hurt. The fact that you're fine and your dress got torched is defiantly a little funny."

"Are you going to offer to buy me another one?"

"Sure. But given the progression of events, the next one's going to be made of Kevlar."

"Ha ha."

Ranger leaned down and kissed my cheek, lingering there for a second. "With any luck, no one will even realize you were there. I don't figure it would work out well for us if you were blamed for burning down the resort."

"It was only one table. And it wasn't my fault."

"It was a little you're fault." I frowned at him, but Ranger seemed to be amused anyway. He kissed my pouting lower lip. "It's alright, Babe. I still love you. And we accomplished our goal. Got eyes on The Rug. That should make you happy. Now we can order room service, get cozy, and plan our takedown."

Okay, that did sound pretty good. I left Ranger to call in for some dinner while I went to change into something that wasn't still smoldering. When I came back to the living room in a comfortable t-shirt and a pair of pajama shorts, Ranger was on his cell. He disconnected and turned to me.

"I have to head out to tie a few loose ends from this morning. Do you want to ride with me?"

"No. I'm wiped. Being set on fire really takes it out of a person."

Ranger was thinking about smiling. "It's understandable. I put your .45 in your purse. You should keep it with you at all times. I doubt anything will happen, but it'll make me feel better all the same."

I didn't like it, but I nodded anyway.

There was a knock on the door and Ranger kept one hand on the gun at his back until he was sure it was room service. He let the hotel employee bring in the tray and tipped him before he closed the door. "I should only be gone an hour or two. Keep this door bolted until I get back."

I nodded again. "Tell Noah and Rico I said hi."

A smile pulled at his mouth. He pulled me toward him and kissed me. "Be safe." And then he left.

I locked the door behind him and slid the bolt into place. I wouldn't really need to let him back in. Ranger had a special way with locks. He could get through deadbolts and security chains like they weren't even there. Sometimes I wondered if he was a ghost, passing through the walls as if by magic.

That would actually explain a lot.

I went to the room service tray and made myself a plate, ate it standing up in the kitchen. When I was done I migrated to the bedroom and flipped on the television. I burrowed down into the covers.

I was on the edge of dozing when I heard the door open again and Ranger came back in. I didn't so much hear him as I did sense the change in air pressure, the scent of Bulgari Green easing over me. I had a moment to decide if I wanted to let him know I was awake. Pull him down on the bed and give myself over to what we both desperately wanted.

The mattress dipped when he sat on the bed. He leaned over me, brushing my curls back from my face so that he could lay a kiss beside my ear. "Babe."

I didn't respond. Chickenshit that I am, I let him think I was still sleeping. His gentle touch slid down my arm and wrapped around my hand, taking the remote. The television clicked off and the room went black. I felt the covers lift when Ranger slid in next to me, wrapping around my body. I listened until the smooth, even rhythm of his breathing slowed and I was sure he was asleep.

I woke up with a warm presence at my back, Ranger's strong arms still wrapped around me. One hand cradled my breast. I thought for a moment that he might still be sleeping, but the second I stirred the hand caressed me. He kissed my shoulder.

I had to think about that for a second. An excited Ranger was one of my favorite things. His hand was already slipping under the edge of my t-shirt and up my bare skin. The other one was moving down. And of course I knew that he would be deliciously naked. Ranger always slept naked. It was so tempting to let him keep going. Stupid conscience.

"Um. I think I still need that minute."

"You think?" he asked, nuzzling my neck.

"I know."

"Any way I can change your mind?" he asked in my ear, doing some very nice things to me.

"Probably, but you're too noble to do that."

A grin lifted his face. "I'm not that noble."

Neither was I. If he kept stroking me like that I wasn't going to be able to resist much longer. I tried to wriggle away to get out of the bed and Ranger caught me with a sigh. He rolled me toward him and tucked me into his side, my head on his shoulder. "You were more fun before."

That was an undeniable fact. But the fun seemed to come with a price. At least for me. Part of me wished I could just let go. Leave behind all the structure and expectations of my traditional upbringing. I mean, Ranger was an incredible lover. He was gentle and caring. And I trusted him.

With my life and my body, anyway.

I relaxed in his arms, letting him cradle me to his strong chest. I traced his hand. Lingered over the place his wedding ring would have sat. He laced his fingers with mine. "Do you think we'll ever get a chance to see where something between us might go?" I asked quietly.

Ranger let out another silent breath and kissed my head. "I can't predict the future, Babe. It's not one of my superpowers."

"So is that a maybe?"

His chest rocked beneath my cheek in a soft laugh. "How about we jump off that bridge when we come to it."

I guess that was as good an answer as I could hope for, considering who I was talking to. I let out a contented sigh and snuggled into Ranger's neck. It was nice. And not just in a sexy kind of way. It was comfortable, too. Safe. How scary is that?

I felt it when Ranger smiled. "If this dry spell goes on too long this is going to start feeling like a real marriage."

"I doubt a real marriage between us would ever see a dry spell."

That earned me another grin.

Ranger's phone started to ring on the bedside table. He reached for it. The voice on the other end was too faint for me to understand, but I could tell that Ranger didn't like what he heard. He disconnected. "Terron just checked out."

I shot up in the bed. "What? When?"

"Ten minutes ago. Silvio's tracking his credit card, but so far there hasn't been any activity. No flights booked. No alternate hotels. Could be he got spooked and ditched the identities. Or he could be making a run for it."

"Shit!" I sprang out of the bed and snatched up a pair of jean shorts from my open suitcase. Ranger was dressed by the time I found my other shoe. "Where are we headed, the airport?"

"It's not the only way off the island, but it's the most likely. We'll head there soon. First I want to see if Ruguzzi left anything behind before maid service gets to his room."

When we got to the other side of the resort, Ranger put a casual arm around my waist and strolled with purpose right up the beach to the backdoor on 6. Breaking and entering rule number one. Look like you belong. He got the door open and stepped into the bedroom. "I'll start here. Search the bathroom."

There wasn't much to find in there. Dirty towels on the floor. Smudges on the counter where someone had been sloppy with their makeup. They'd taken the hotel soaps. I moved to the living room the same time as Ranger. All we found was an envelope with a lousy tip.

"Doesn't look as though they cleared out in a hurry," I pointed out.

"I agree. I don't see someone who's going underground leaving a tip."

"Especially a tip so bad. What an asshole."

Ranger almost smiled. "Babe."

The Ruguzzis only had a half hour lead on us by the time we got to the airport. The check-in lines were long. That didn't mean they hadn't made it through security yet, but chances were good that we hadn't missed them. We waited around for hours. Nothing. Ranger called the office. They'd come up empty too. The Rug had vanished.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Twelve

I was staring around the airport, still hoping to catch a glimpse of something familiar. "Where do you think they've gone?"

"Hard to say. Even if they don't leave the island, there are nearly a million people on Oahu, about half of them in Honolulu alone. That's a pretty big haystack."

"We're not just giving up, are we?"

Ranger looked at me a second before he went back to scanning the room. "Not yet. If he's not leaving the island, he'll have to stay somewhere. We could canvass a few of the more likely hotels, but we'll have to tread lightly. Don't want to call too much attention to the fact we're looking for him. If by some miracle he hasn't figured out we're here, I don't want to tip him off."

"We could cover more ground if we split up."

I could tell he wanted to deny that. He wasn't happy that he couldn't. "I'll call Rico. Have him get you a car. If you catch wind of Ruguzzi, don't take him down unless you think you might lose him. You have your accessories?" he asked, watching airport security wander through the terminal.

I nodded. My messenger bag was in the car, but all the hardware he'd given me was still in it. Including the cuffs, the taser and the loaded .45. "Good," he said. He caught me with a gentle hand at the back of my neck and kissed me. "Be careful."

"You too."

I know I didn't need to say it, but it made him smile anyway.

The car Rico had for me was a Porsche Cayman S, just like the one that went up in smoke. I was betting it was the original plan B before Ranger had requested the 911. I tried to ask where it came from, but Rico only smiled.

I spent the rest of the afternoon going from one hotel to the next asking if my dear old uncle had checked in yet. I told them I was trying to surprise him for their anniversary, and that there would be a big tip involve if they called me on the sly as soon as he arrived. No one questioned it. No suspicious gatekeepers at the hotels for mortals.

By the time I struck out at the Ilikai, it was after eight and I was starving. Ranger called me just as I was thinking about packing it in. "Any luck?"

"Zip. You?"

"My hopes were never high. I say we call it a night. We can make a better plan tomorrow."

I couldn't agree more.

Ranger had me meet him at a seedy hole in the wall restaurant in a rundown part of town. It looked like the Honolulu equivalent of Stark Street. There was graffiti everywhere along the trash-lined street, and most of the people going in and out weren't ones I'd want to meet in a dark alley.

Ranger pulled in right after I did. Good thing, too. Otherwise I wasn't likely to have gotten out of the car.

The inside of the bar was dark and crowded, and it smelled like beer and pool table felt and good food. After dining in five star restaurants it was almost a relief to slip into a corner booth in a place with no dress code. Ranger ordered a pizza and a pitcher of beer while we watched the flow of the crowd. He slipped an arm around my shoulder and kissed me above my ear.

"So, what do you want to do now?" he asked me.

"I don't know. Usually I have more to go on than this. Friends or relatives to follow up on, jobs or common haunts to stake out. This time I've got nothing. I don't even know where to start."

"That's the disadvantage to leaving your home turf. It would be easier if he was still using the same credit cards. If he's picked up a new one we're out of luck."

I blew out a stream of air and the corner of Ranger's mouth twitched. He pulled me closer. "He'll surface again. Even if we lost him this trip, at least we know he's alive. And he still has ties in Jersey. It's only a matter of time before he shows back up in Trenton."

"Doesn't make it any less frustrating."

"No. But I know something we can do that might alleviate some of that stress," he said, kissing my neck. "If you're done with that minute."

"Um."

Ranger drew in a patient breath and eased back in his seat. Usually his emotions were well guarded. This time I saw a touch of frustration leaking through. I felt for him. It's hard to go from regular, mind blowing sex to nothing just like that. And the truth is I did want him. I wanted him bad. I just didn't know if that would ever be enough.

I wasn't surprised at all when we came out and found the Cayman missing from its spot. Either Noah or Rico must have come to collect it while we were eating.

Ranger followed me to the passenger side of the 911. He didn't open my door, though. Instead he pressed me into the side of the car and kissed me. It was passionate and deep. The kind of kiss that would usually lead to nudity. My fingers curled into his shirt all on their own.

Then Ranger froze. It took me a second to hear the footsteps through the rush of blood in my ears, but the second he went still I could feel the presence surrounding us. There were three of them.

"Alright, Romeo. Hand over your wallet and your lady friend's bag."

Ranger looked over his shoulder and the kid hesitated, a six inch blade shining in his hand. He was eighteen or nineteen. Maybe 5'9". He exchanged a nervous glance with his friends when he got a load of Ranger. Probably second guessing his choice of targets.

He pointed the knife at Ranger's face with fear in his eyes. "Just do it!"

Ranger lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender and turned slowly to face his assailant. Then he snatched the kid's arm out of the air. The kid cried out in pain when his wrist twisted. The knife dropped. The other two boys jumped in from either side. All I saw for a few seconds were arms and bodies and a flash of silver.

One of the friends broke off and lunged for me, thinking I'd be an easier target. I panicked. It was all instinct when I punched him in the nose. He clapped his hands over his bleeding face and I kicked him in the groin. He doubled over and fell to his knees the same time his friends hit the ground. Ranger reached behind him and pulled out his Glock. The second they saw it, all three of them scurried away like cockroaches.

Ranger watched them vanish into the shadows before he tucked the gun into the small of his back again and turned to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but my hand hurts."

"That means you put some real force behind that blow. I'm proud of you," Ranger said. He lifted my fist to his lips, kissing my bruised knuckles. "He never saw you coming."

"You probably don't get mugged very often, huh?"

"I have a certain reputation in Trenton. Bad guys there know better."

"You didn't get to shoot anyone."

"There's always tomorrow."

My hands had started to shake. It was the adrenaline. I've never handled adrenaline well. Ranger pulled me into him and kissed my forehead. "Let's go home. I think today's been eventful enough."

I nodded numbly.

We didn't say anything on the drive back to the resort. Ranger's hand stayed a steady, comforting pressure on my leg. Like a grounding wire. When we got back to the cottage, Ranger pulled out his gun before he pushed the door open and peered inside. He checked to make sure the place was undisturbed before he shut and locked the door. He went into the bedroom and set his gun on his bedside table.

"Do you think he'll come back?" I asked, thankful my voice was steady again.

"No. But it's always wise to be cautious."

Ranger examined his left shoulder. The black cotton was glistening a little below a rip in his collar.

"You're bleeding!"

"Yeah. One of those little punks got in a lucky shot," he said, stripping off the shirt. His chest was red. "Grab me a towel."

I picked up a clean, white cloth from the bathroom counter and brought it to him where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Ranger's mouth twitched. I was amusing him. "It's just a scratch, Babe. I've had worse."

I knew that was true. I'd seen it with my own eyes. It wasn't something I liked to remember.

There are moments in life that are tipping points. Fixed moments when you realize that things have fundamentally changed and there's no going back. I've had a few since I met Ranger. But one of the ones that scared me the most was when I watched him walk into my apartment to save me, knowing that he wasn't going to be walking out again. I watched him take six bullets to the chest that night. Only three of them were stopped by the vest I hadn't known he was wearing. Blood was everywhere. And there was a moment, while I watched him bleed, watched as the paramedics rushed to get him to the hospital, that I had to face the possibility that he might die. Had to face the gaping hole that losing him would have left in my life.

It was the moment I realized that I loved him.

That was the biggest reason I'd tried so hard to keep him at arm's length all this time. Because I was afraid to get close to someone so hell bent on avoiding emotion. Didn't want to get used to the magic and the fire only to have it vanish one day. But who was I trying to kid? It wasn't as if keeping him out of my bed had stopped anything. You can't unlove someone just because it's complicated.

I traced a line along his chest, just under the mark the knife had made. His breathing was steady and even. His eyes dilated. He reached for my waist and pulled me toward him.

I could have backed away. Put some distance between us. I didn't.

I knew I would probably regret it later. And I knew it couldn't last. In two days, we'd have to go back to Trenton and things would get complicated again. But for now. Maybe I could just let it be. Maybe as long as we were here, in our little cottage in the center of paradise, things could be simple.

His fingers curled into my shirt when my body was flush with his and I my breath caught.

Oh, to hell with it.

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. He didn't waste any time whipping my shirt off over my head. His arm looped around my waist and my feet left the ground. He slung me onto the bed and relieved me of my shorts. The rest of our cloths hit the floor. Then Ranger took control and I swear I saw colors.

Even after the sun rose, we laid in bed for a long time snuggled together under the sweaty sheets. Ranger's fingertips were stroking the length of me in a lazy, contented way, my body half on top of his. Every inch of me was satisfied.

I reached up enough to kiss his neck and his body reacted in a predictable way. "You should call room service," I said before he could get too distracted.

He rolled me onto my back with an almost smile. "Are we staying in today?"

"Well, maybe not _all_ day."

That amused him. "What did you have in mind?"

"I figured we could call some hotels from here. I mean, there's no sense running around chasing shadows, right?"

"Right." His hands moved down my body. He kissed the pulse point at my neck, then my collar bone, following the trail down. "And as long as we're making calls from the privacy of our own bed—"

"I was serious about room service, though. I'm starving."

Ranger laughed.

When the room service tray arrived it was filled with enough muffins and yogurt and fresh fruit to feed a half dozen people. Obviously Ranger didn't want to take the chance that we'd run out. We lounged around together on the bed while we ate, me leaning back against his chest, enjoying the quiet intimacy.

Ranger went into the kitchen to make some more coffee and I got out my phone and started down the list I'd made. I was lying on my stomach when he came back in, my feet dangling in the air behind me. I was wearing one of his t-shirts and little else. He watched me a minute from the doorway. I was amusing him again.

A man answered with a familiar name and I looked at the list again. It was the little yellow brick hotel I'd stayed my first night in Hawaii. The coincidence was lost on me soon after, though, when Ranger came up behind me, his atmosphere pulling a great deal of my attention away. I pressed on anyway. "I was just looking for my uncle," I tried to say, distracted by the feel of Ranger's lips on my ankle. "He and my aunt just got into town. I was hoping—that I could surprise them—" Ranger was kissing his way up the back of my leg and it was getting pretty hard to keep my concentration. He reached the back of my knee and lingered there a moment before he kept going. "—I don't suppose you could—tell me when they check in—" I said. His mouth was at the hem of my shirt, just an inch below my ass. I was batting at him, but he grabbed my hips and flipped me over. I might have squealed a little in surprise.

"What was that?" the man on the other end asked.

"Sorry—saw a spider." Ranger raised an eyebrow at me, humor shining in his eyes. "Anyway, I was just wondering if my aunt and uncle got there last night."

"Nobody like that," the man said. "But apparently you're not the only one looking for people."

The guy said something about a man asking after a girl, but I was only half listening. Ranger was pulling at my red panties. I tried to bat him away again. He grinned, kissing up my thighs. I thanked the man quickly and disconnected. "I'm working here."

"I know. It's very sexy."

I couldn't keep the smile from my face. "How sexy?"

The answer was spectacular.

I eventually gave up on phone calls in favor of a little soaking in the private spa. We didn't bother with bathing suits. They only got in the way. By the time we were out of food my entire body was relaxed and wrinkly. I leaned back against Ranger's chest, his arms wrapped around me. My stomach grumbled and I felt Ranger chuckle. "Should we order some more room service? Might be able to get them to send us steak and lobster."

"As tempting as that sounds, if I don't get out of this spa I'll have to be ironed out."

"We could move back to the bed," he said, lifting my hand out of the water to kissed my wrist, then my palm, and then the back of my wedding band.

That was tempting too. I leaned back until my cheek was brushing his, my lips on his skin. "How about we take a shower, and then we can get some dinner."

"I could get into that," Ranger said with velvet in his voice, kissing my neck.

It took longer to shower than usual, but it was totally worth it. I took my time getting dressed while Ranger got us a table and shaved. I was just fitting my other strappy sandal over my heel when there was a knock on the door. I opened it without thinking.

Then my heart stopped.

It was Joe Morelli.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Thirteen

A warm smile lit Morelli's handsome face, his brown eyes sensual, like melted chocolate. He was at least a day past a five o'clock shadow. His hair needed a cut too, curling around his ears and along the nape of his neck in soft waves of black. His faded gray t-shirt and blue jeans were wrinkled and travel worn, but somehow he still made it look sexy. For a second, I was sure I was hallucinating.

Morelli. Here. It just didn't seem possible. This vacation had been so different, so removed from reality, that in a lot of ways it had felt like a dream. And now Morelli was standing at my door. The boy I had known since forever. The man who charmed his way into my life and my bed, and become as fixed a point as any other. It was so surreal that I detached from my own thoughts.

"Hey, Cupcake. Did you miss me?"

I was speechless. I couldn't even stammer.

Morelli grinned. "I came to surprise you. I can see I succeeded."

"What? How?"

"Well, I felt bad that you had to come all the way to Hawaii by yourself. So I made some deals and pulled some strings and got a few days off so we could spend your last couple days together. I figured better late than never, right?"

He grinned wider when I didn't answer, his eyes warming even more. He took a half step toward me, scanning my outfit in a way that said he couldn't wait to get it off of me. Normally, I would encourage that, but my brain had gone so thoroughly blank with the sense of impending doom that I couldn't do anything but stare.

Then Ranger stepped out of the bathroom. "What is it, Babe?"

The moment their eyes met, a number of things crossed Morelli's face at once. Shock. Hurt. Disbelief. He looked from Ranger to me as if his eyes were lying to him. Then they slid down my arm to the three carat diamond on my ring finger.

And then there was rage.

His eyes turned black and in one stride he crossed the foyer and coldcocked Ranger in the face.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Ranger's head whipped to the side, but it didn't slow him down. He lashed back at Joe. I heard Joe's nose break when Ranger's fist struck him, blood spurting out between his already bloody knuckles. Ranger slammed Joe into the wall when he swung at him again, and Joe ducked low to bowl into Ranger's middle like the barroom brawler he used to be. They flew back and smashed into the coffee table, splintered wood and blood flying everywhere. It was impossible to follow who had the upper hand. They were rolling like savage, snapping dogs, all fists and grunts and rabid, bottled fury. I was screaming at them to stop, but they were deaf to it. Too intent on doing damage. Whaling away with equal brutality and vicious determination. I was sure they were trying to kill each other.

I snatched up my bag and rooted out the only thing I could think of to stop them. They rolled again and suddenly Ranger was on top. I shoved the prongs of the stun gun he'd given me against the back of his neck and pressed the button. His whole body seized and he went limp. I tagged Joe too. I grabbed onto the back of Ranger's shirt and dragged him off, both men lying inert on the spattered wood floor.

I looked around at the carnage, scared, angry tears welling in my eyes. There was so much blood. I couldn't tell who was bleeding more. It covered their hands, wept from gaping cuts and bloody lips and Morelli's broken nose. It was all over their clothes. The floors. The fractured coffee table.

I found the handcuffs in my bag and slapped them on Morelli. Then I got the second set out of Ranger's utility belt and restrained him too. No way of knowing how long they'd be down, but I wasn't taking any chances. I'd never seen so much pent up anger in a person, let alone in two. It had been terrifying to see it in the men that I loved. Knowing that it was because of me.

I called the front desk. It was only minutes before Thomas showed up with three burley security guys. Thomas took one look at the bloody room and the unconscious, handcuffed men and he paled. He directed hotel security to gather them up and I followed close behind as they were carried out to the lobby. I knew I'd never fit both men into the Porsche, so I fished the keys to Morelli's rental car out of his pocket. They were for a gray Chevy Malibu, still parked nearby on the edge of the driveway. I pulled the Malibu up to the doors so they could load both Morelli and Ranger into the back bench seat. I didn't look at anyone. I just climbed behind the wheel and drove to the nearest hospital.

Morelli was starting to twitch by the time I pulled up to the emergency bay. He shook his head trying to clear it, muttering angrily in Italian. I didn't want to wait for him to regain his faculties. When Morelli used Italian, it was best to steer clear for a while.

I hopped out of the car and got a few guys in scrubs to help me drag the two semi-conscious men from the Malibu's back seat. The waiting room was pretty full, but when you bring two muscular, six foot tall men into an ER handcuffed and covered in blood, you tend to get attention. I made sure they were put far enough apart that things were unlikely to escalate once they were alert again, and then moved into the hall a safe distance away.

I hung back while we waited in the emergency room. I didn't want to face them. Not after that. Morelli was glaring daggers at Ranger from across the room, even through his swelling eyes and the mask of blood. Sometimes he would glance at me too, but that never lasted long. I knew why. I knew exactly what it must have looked like when he showed up unannounced. It looked like I'd replaced him. Called in the second string when he couldn't get away from work. Like he was that easy to replace. And then there was the ring.

Oh God. The ring. I could only guess what he must be thinking about that.

Ranger wasn't nearly as easy to read from his place against the wall. His expression wasn't blank, exactly. More like the low burning emotion was too undefined. The gaping cut under his eye was weeping down his cheek, the rest of him spotted with blood too. Hard to tell if it was his or Morelli's. I'm not sure if it even really mattered at this point. His hands were still cuffed, like Morelli's were. He wasn't glowering, though. He wasn't looking at Morelli at all. His eyes were on me.

I shied away and slipped into the hall.

A doctor came and found me some time after they'd been carted back into separate rooms. He looked just as wary as I felt. "We're still patching them up, but there doesn't seem to be any serious damage. I think they're going to be okay. One of them has a broken nose. The other needed seven stitches to close the laceration under his eye, and I'll need to do x-rays to confirm, but I'm fairly certain he has a broken bone in his right hand, too. If you hadn't told me this was the result of a fist fight, I might have assumed somebody threw these guys down the stairs."

"Ranger broke his hand?"

The doctor nodded with a grim smile. I think he might have been mildly impressed. It takes a lot of force to break a bone from punching someone. Deep down, underneath the calm, Zen exterior, Ranger might have some Morelli related anger issues.

"You might want to take a seat. We're backed up, so it'll probably be another couple of hours before they're released," the doctor said. I thanked him and watched as he wandered back toward the ER doors.

Okay. So I had two choices. I could hang around and wait for the rest of the shit to hit the fan. Or I could cut and run. Obviously, this was a no brainer. There was no way I was going to be able to bring myself to face them. Not now. Not for a long time, if I had my way. It was a cowardly thing to do. I know that. But when I get down to it, cowardly has been working for me pretty well so far. And there was no way in hell that I was getting caught in the middle with the two of them that angry.

I drove back to the resort and parked the Malibu in the lot. If I was quick, I could be packed up and gone long before Morelli and Ranger were released from the hospital. I saw Thomas blanch from his place behind the front desk when I passed through the lobby.

"You," he said, coming out from behind the desk. I tried to ignore him, but he followed after me anyway. "This all started with you. What did you do?"

"What makes you think this was my fault?" I asked without pausing to stop. The guilt didn't sit well. Of course it was my fault. With the exception of a few freak accidents, everything that had happened on this trip was my fault. I hurried across the lobby. Thomas stayed on my heels.

"I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. And then the police show up—"

I whipped around to look at him and saw something flash across his face. Might have been a touch of panic. "How did you know he was the police?"

"He showed me his badge. It was the only reason I let him through. We have very strict policies, you know. Only registered guests allowed. But he said it was official business. I should have known it was you he was investigating. I bet you were the reason for all those customer complaints too. A couple had to check out because some girl was causing scenes and ruining their vacation."

I could only gape at him. Holy crap. The Rug had checked out because of me. Because I was causing accidents and playing grab ass in public walkways. I really was a disaster.

"But he searched my room. He knew I was…" I started to say, but I caught it when Thomas flushed. I may not always be the best bond enforcement agent, but there are a few skills that I've gotten pretty good at. I can recognize guilt when I see it. "It was you. You were the one who searched our room. But, why? What could you be looking for?"

He didn't meet my eye. I didn't need him to answer. I already knew. He'd been looking for evidence. Something that might suggest I wasn't who I said I was. I don't know if I was more relieved or embarrassed. The Rug never found us. He'd checked out because of the crazy girl who was making a spectacle of herself. There had to be some irony in there somewhere.

I left Thomas standing in the lobby and hurried back to the cottage. I threw everything I owned back into my suitcase without thought for how it fit. I had to sit on it to get it closed. I was careful to leave all of the equipment Noah had provided in Ranger's drawer next to his utility belt. The last thing I needed was the added complication of getting caught with an illegal stun gun. It was an even bigger relief to ditch the .45.

I scanned the room for anything I might have left behind. That was when I saw Ranger's ring. It was still sitting on the bedside table. Right where he'd left it. I looked down at the ring still glistening on my finger and felt a stab of guilt and panic. I pulled it off and set it beside Ranger's before I gathered up my bags and ran away.

I picked up Ranger's 911 from the valet and drove it straight to the airport. I texted Noah. I figured he would be able to get it to Ranger when they finished stitching him up at the ER. And hopefully by the time that happened, I would be in the air. Well beyond the reach of either Ranger or Morelli.

The last thing I did was call Lula's cell. She would still be sleeping, I was sure, but she was my best bet. Lula would pick me up at the airport when I landed and all of this would seem like a distant dream.

I sat in the terminal, watching the time tick down until my flight boarded. Lots of vacationers filled the seats around me. Fresh tans and happy smiles. Probably well rested. I envied them.

I blew out a sigh and decided to try to look on the bright side. At least things should look up from here. I mean, my luck couldn't possibly get any worse than this, right?

The story continues in Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich


End file.
